, spring water and well water, whether fresh or saline, and whether still in their original liquid state or melted after solidifying. The exception is saline water that dissolves elsewhere after turning into salt and being transported from its original location. Our later scholars hold three opinions concerning this. The first is that its original ruling remains unchanged, unaffected by its solidification. The second is that it has the same ruling as food: it cannot be used for ritual purification, and any other water whose properties it changes likewise becomes qualified water. The third is that if its solidification resulted from deliberate effort, processing and manufacture, this affects its ruling, so it cannot be used for ritual purification; otherwise, its solidification has no effect.

Section

Water falls into three categories: water that is pure and purifying; water that is neither pure nor purifying; and water that is pure but not purifying.

Pure and purifying water is water in the unrestricted sense: none of its properties has been changed by something that can be kept separate from it. It is called unrestricted because the bare name “water” adequately describes it as it is.

Water that is pure but not purifying is water one of whose properties has been changed by a pure substance that can be kept separate from it. By calling it pure, we mean that it is not impure, so washing it off clothing or the body is not obligatory. By calling it non-purifying, we mean that it removes neither ritual impurity nor the legal status of impurity, even if it removes the impure substance itself. Abū Hanīfah held that it removes ritual impurity, consistently with his principle permitting ablution with nabīdh (a fruit infusion). He also held that it removes the legal status of impurity when it removes the impure substance itself, consistently with his principle that anything which removes the substance also removes its legal status.

Water that is neither pure nor purifying is water one of whose properties has been changed by an impurity entering it. If none of its properties has been changed by the impurity that entered it, this does not affect its ruling, whether the quantity of water is small or large, according to Mālik’s underlying position, as transmitted from him by the Medinan scholars. The Egyptian scholars transmitted from him that this does affect the water when its quantity is small, and many of his followers adopted this view.

As for Ibn al-Qāsim, he described it without qualification as impure, using the expression loosely and exercising caution regarding doubtful matters, rather than intending it literally. This is indicated by the fact that, in his position, he did not require someone who had performed ablution with it to repeat the prayer without any time limit, as he did someone who had performed ablution with water whose properties had changed. Some of our scholars described it as water of doubtful status, an expression that is