We have applied this line of inquiry to every question, yet we realized that doing so would make the discussion unduly long and that time might well forestall its completion. The safer course, therefore, is to confine ourselves to the first purpose we set out to achieve; if God Most High grants facilitation and life affords us scope, that aim will be completed in full.

Second Issue. Water that has been mixed with saffron or any other pure substance that is ordinarily separable from it once it has altered one of the water’s qualities. Such water is pure according to all scholars, yet it is not purifying in the view of Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī, while Abū Ḥanīfah judges it purifying so long as the change did not occur through boiling.

The cause of their disagreement is the obscurity surrounding whether the term “unqualified water” (māʾ muṭlaq) still applies to water into which such substances have been introduced—does the designation include it or not? Whoever held that the name no longer applies, and that the liquid must now be annexed to what has mixed with it—so that it is called “saffron water,” not simply “water”—ruled that wuḍūʾ may not be performed with it, for wuḍūʾ is only valid with unqualified water. Conversely, whoever maintained that the term still encompasses it permitted wuḍūʾ with it.

Because it is evident that the word “water” no longer applies to water boiled with a pure substance, the jurists unanimously agreed that ablution with such water is impermissible. The same judgment holds for waters extracted from plants, except for what Ibn Shaʿbān records—namely, the permissibility of performing the Friday ghusl with rose water.

In truth, the degree of mixing varies with quantity. The admixture may be so great that the name “unqualified water” no longer fits—as when one speaks of “wash water”—or it may fall short of that threshold, especially when only the odor has changed. For this reason some scholars who prohibit “added water” do not take mere change of smell into account.

The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said to Umm ʿAṭiyyah when he instructed her to wash his daughter:

“Wash her with water and lote-leaves, and in the final washing add camphor, or a little camphor.”

This is water that has been mixed, yet the mixing is not so extensive as to strip it of the name “unqualified water.” It is reported from Mālik that he differentiates between large and small quantities in such mixtures: he permits their use when the added substance is slight, even if some of its characteristics are apparent, and forbids it when the quantity is great.

Third Issue. Water that has already been used for purification. The jurists hold three opinions regarding it. One group—al-Shāfiʿī and Abū Ḥanīfah—declares purification with it invalid under all circumstances. A second group, represented by Mālik and his colleagues, deem it disliked and do not allow tayammum so long as it is available. A third group, including Abū Thawr, Dāwūd, and their followers, see no distinction between it and unqualified water. Abū Yūsuf alone held it to be impure.

The root of the disagreement here as well is the assumption that the label “unqualified water” does not apply to it—so much so that some of them