liquid, do not go near it.” (1) This narration is weak, as Shaykh al-Islam stated. (2)
- Impurity does not spread through fat, whether it is solid or liquid, unlike water, through which substances penetrate.
However, if the impurity is potent and abundant, the clarified butter is little, and the impurity has affected it, can it be purified?
Some scholars said that it cannot, because substances do not penetrate fat. (3) Thus, if we were to bring water and pour it over it, the water would not enter the fat; rather, it would remain separate from it.
Others said that it can be purified by boiling it with water until the smell and taste of the impurity disappear, after the physical substance of the impurity has been removed. (817)
This view is based on the preceding principle: impurity is a foul substance, and whenever it is removed, its ruling is removed as well.
If the location of an impurity is unknown, he must wash until he is certain that it has been removed, …
His statement, “If the location of an impurity is unknown, he must wash until he is certain that it has been removed,” means that if an impurity affects something and its location is unknown, whatever it has affected must be washed until one is certain that it has been removed.
Know that what has been affected by impurity falls into one of two cases: