They are refuted, first, by the fact that the unrestricted term “water” (mā’), as found in the Qur’an and Sunnah, clearly encompasses sea-water, and secondly by the report recorded by Mālik in which the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“It is purifying in its water and lawful in its dead creatures.”
Although the authenticity of this ḥadīth is contested, the general tenor of the Law supports its purport.
The jurists are likewise unanimous that anything which commonly clings to water and alters it does not strip the water of purity or of its purifying capacity, save for an isolated opinion transmitted from Ibn Sīrīn regarding stagnant (ājīn) water—an opinion that too is rebutted by the unrestricted designation “water.”
They further agree that if an impurity changes the water’s taste, color, scent, or more than one of these qualities, it is impermissible to use that water for wuḍūʾ or any other act of purification.
They also concur that a large, expansive body of water is not harmed by an impurity that causes no such alteration, and that it remains pure. These are the points of consensus in this chapter.
They then disagreed over six questions that serve as foundational rules for the subject.
First question: water into which an impurity falls without altering any of its qualities.
One group held that it remains pure whether the quantity be great or small. This is one of the narrations from Mālik and the position of the Literalist school (Ahl al-Ẓāhir).
A second group distinguished between a small and a large amount, saying: if the water is little it becomes impure, but if much it does not. Those who adopted this view differed over where to draw the line. Abū Ḥanīfah said that the threshold is reached when the water is so plentiful that, if a person stirs one side of it, the motion does not carry to the other side. Al-Shāfiʿī fixed the limit at two qullahs of the jars of Hajar—roughly five hundred ritls. Others set no specific measure, yet still maintained that impurity spoils a small quantity of water even if none of its qualities change; this too is reported from Mālik, and another narration from him states that such water is merely disliked (makrūh).
Thus three opinions are found from Mālik concerning a small quantity of water into which a slight impurity falls: (1) it becomes impure, (2) it remains pure unless one of its qualities changes, and (3) using it is disliked.
The root of their disagreement is the apparent conflict among the ḥadīths on the issue. The previously mentioned report of Abū Hurayrah, in which the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “When one of you awakes from sleep …,” is understood from its outward sense to mean that a small impurity renders a small amount of water impure. The authentic ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah in which he—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “None of you should urinate in stagnant water and then bathe in it,” likewise gives the immediate impression that a small impurity defiles a small quantity of water. The same holds true for the various texts that prohibit