By contrast, the position of Abū Ḥanīfa—followed in one report from Aḥmad and adopted by Ibn ʿAqīl and Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn—is that impurity may be removed with any pure liquid that is capable of eliminating the substance itself and its traces.

Impurity manifests in three qualities: taste, odor, and color. If, after washing, either the taste or the odor remains, that is proof that the very substance of the impurity is still present and has not been removed. Remaining color, however, does no harm once the place has been thoroughly washed, for it is legally excused.

The harmful, foul stench of impurity mingles with the air and penetrates the body through its pores, injuring the body and undermining health. Air is a subtle, flowing compound that easily seeps—carrying whatever it bears—through the narrowest pores. For this reason the Lawgiver specified water for removing impurities: in its natural state water is thin, fluid, and possesses a unique power to cleanse repulsive substances. Allah knows best.

The scholars state: the default ruling for everything is purity, for declaring something impure would oblige God’s servants to observe a legal ruling, and by default no such obligation exists. Obvious reason dictates that no one is burdened with a merely possible duty until it is firmly established by transmitted evidence. One who ascribes legal rulings to the sharīʿa without proof is no less sinful than one who nullifies a ruling whose evidence is sound; both are guilty of attributing to Allah what He did not say, or of abolishing what He has legislated without proof. Whoever is plagued by compulsive misgivings should be certain that the original state of things is purity, and that nothing is judged impure until its impurity is known with certainty.