the girl; he is therefore carried more often, and whoever carries him is more frequently exposed to his urine. To make matters easier, the Law reduced the cleansing required for his urine, in keeping with the major legal maxim, “Hardship brings about facilitation.”

Others have said that a boy’s urine issues from a narrow opening at the end of an elongated organ, so it is expelled with force and pressure, scattering widely and wetting many surfaces; wisdom therefore dictated leniency in purifying it. A girl’s urine, by contrast, comes from a broader opening without such an organ, remains confined to one spot, and thus retains the original ruling of full impurity.

A third view holds that a male infant possesses a natural heat greater than that of a female. That additional warmth attenuates the residues of his food, and since his food is light—namely milk—the two factors together make his impurity lighter. The girl lacks this moderating heat and so remains subject to the default ruling.

These are some of the explanations scholars have advanced for differentiating between a boy’s urine and a girl’s. If any are sound, they are reasonable, for the distinctions are clear; but even if none is correct, the ultimate reason lies in Allah’s decree. We are certain that Allah’s Law itself is wisdom: the Sharia never separates two things that appear alike unless wisdom warrants the separation, nor does it unite them unless wisdom warrants the union. Every divine ruling is tied to benefit, though that benefit may at times be evident and at times concealed.

As for the vomit of a boy and a girl, scholars hold two opinions. Some give it the same ruling as their urine—by a fortiori reasoning, since vomit is a lighter impurity than urine; this is the Hanbali position. Others do not, arguing that males and females share the same rulings unless a text removes one from the general rule, and no text singles out vomit. It therefore remains under the default ruling: both sexes are equal regarding its impurity.