towels, and anything of that sort, for the aim is purification itself, not any specific material.
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The point behind mentioning stones is not their number but the number of wipes.
In al-Rawḍ and its marginal notes it is stated: Three cleansing wipes that remove the impurity are required; if three do not achieve cleanliness, then more must be added. If the three wipes are obtained with a single stone that has three sides, it suffices, provided it cleans, because of the hadith of Jābir: “Let him wipe three times.” This shows that what matters is the number of wipes, not the number of stones; the three faces of one stone yield exactly what three separate stones would, so there is no difference. -
Adequate cleaning with a stone means that nothing remains which could be removed except by water. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn said: The litmus test for complete cleansing is that no residue remains on the spot which a stone could still remove.
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Using dung for istijmār is forbidden, either because it is impure or because it is fodder for the riding animals of the jinn.
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Using bones for istijmār is likewise forbidden, either because they are impure or because they constitute food for the jinn themselves.
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Someone might object: “We do not see the jinn or their beasts, we cannot imagine flesh growing back on a bone to feed them, nor can we grasp how dung could be fodder for their animals.”
The answer: Matters of this kind are textual rulings that must be accepted once their reports are sound, even if we do not comprehend their nature. We have been granted only a little knowledge, while there is an unseen realm whose realities and conditions are hidden from us. Believing in it is part of faith in the unseen, about which Allah has praised His servants: “those who believe in the unseen” (al-Baqarah 2:3).
- The jurists state that cleansing with water is achieved by pouring water while rubbing until the area returns to the state it was in before anything exited and the muscles relax slightly.