The word “excused” means overlooked and treated leniently. A liquid is something fluid, such as water, milk, and broth; while food is that which is eaten, such as bread and the like.
Thus, a small amount of impure blood is excused in things other than these two categories, such as clothing, the body, bedding, the ground, and the like.
As for liquids and food, a small amount of it is not excused if it falls into them. This is the established position of the school; however, the stronger view is that a small amount is excused in them as in other things, so long as none of their characteristics is altered by the blood.
The scholars—may Allah Most High have mercy on them—differed over the criterion distinguishing a small amount from a large amount, according to two views that have already been explained. The stronger of them (1) …
His statement, “impure blood,” indicates that pure blood is not included in this ruling. This becomes clear by explaining the categories of blood. Blood falls into three categories:
The first is impure blood, none of which is excused: namely, blood discharged from the two private passages; the blood of an animal unlawful to eat, if it has flowing blood, such as the blood of a mouse or a donkey; and the blood of a carcass from an animal that is not lawful except when slaughtered in the prescribed manner.
The second is impure blood of which a small amount is excused: the blood of a human being and of every animal whose carcass is impure. Excluded from this are the blood remaining upon a martyr, musk and its gland, and the blood that remains in an animal after its life has departed through prescribed slaughter, for it is pure.
The third is pure blood, and it includes several types:
- The blood of fish, because its carcass is pure; and the basis for the prohibition of carrion is