previously explained in the chapter on dry ablution: impurities are not remedied by dry ablution. Thus, whoever has an impurity on his body and is unable to wash it away should pray without performing dry ablution, because dry ablution has only been prescribed for purification from ritual impurity, not for purification from physical impurity (1).
Whatever falls from him of a limb or tooth is pure …
His statement: “Whatever falls from him of a limb or tooth is pure,” means that if a limb or a tooth falls from a person, it is pure.
An example of a limb is a severed finger. The example of a tooth is self-evident.
The evidence for this is the Prophet’s saying: “Indeed, the believer does not become impure” (2)—that is, neither alive nor dead. And his saying: “Whatever is cut from an animal while it is alive is carrion” (3).
(1) See 1:375-376.
(2) Agreed upon; its authentication was previously cited at 1:25.
(3) Al-Hakim (4:239) narrated it through the chain of al-Miswar ibn al-Salt, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ata, from Abu سعيد al-Khudri, as a marfu report (attributed to the Prophet).
Al-Bazzar said: “We know of no one who narrated it with a connected chain except al-Miswar, and he was not a hadith master.”
Al-Haythami said: “Its chain includes Miswar ibn al-Salt, who is abandoned.” Majma al-Zawaid, 4:32.
Ibn Majah also narrated it in Kitab al-Sayd, the chapter “What Is Cut from an Animal While It Is Alive,” no. 3216, through Hisham ibn Sad, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from Ibn Umar, as a marfu report.
Regarding Hisham ibn Sad, Ibn Hajar said: “He was truthful, but prone to errors and accused of Shiism.” Abu Zura al-Razi explicitly stated that this narration, too, is an error. Abu Zura al-Razi and al-Daraqutni regarded the mursal version (a report with a missing Companion in its chain) as the stronger of all these versions. And Allah knows best.
See al-Ilal by Ibn Abi Hatim, nos. 1479, 1526; al-Ilal by al-Daraqutni, 6:297, no. 1152; Nasb al-Rayah, 4:317; al-Talkhis al-Habir, no. 14.