Chapter Six: The Nullifiers of This Purification
Regarding the factors that annul this purification, the scholars agree that everything which invalidates the primary state of ritual purity—namely wudu’ or ghusl—also invalidates tayammum. They differ, however, on two specific questions:
- Does the intention to perform another obligatory prayer, different from the prayer for which one performed tayammum, nullify that purification?
- Does the mere availability of water nullify it or not?
The First Question
Mālik maintained that intending a second prayer breaks the first tayammum, whereas the other jurists held the contrary view.
The roots of this disagreement revolve around two issues:
First: In the Almighty’s words, “O you who believe, when you rise for prayer …” (al-Māʾidah 5:6), is there an implied ellipsis—such as “when you rise from sleep” or “when you rise in a state of impurity”—or is nothing omitted at all? Whoever denies an ellipsis says that the verse’s apparent sense obliges wudu’ or tayammum every time one rises for prayer. The Sunnah has limited this obligation with respect to wudu’, leaving tayammum upon its original import. This, however, cannot serve as proof for Mālik, for he holds that the verse does contain an ellipsis, following the report he narrates from Zayd ibn Aslam in the Muwaṭṭaʾ.
Second: the repetition of the divine command at the entrance of each prayer time. This line of reasoning accords more closely with Mālik’s legal principles and forms the stronger proof for his position, as was discussed earlier. Conversely, whoever does not see the command as recurring, and affirms an ellipsis in the verse, does not regard the mere intention to perform a second prayer as nullifying tayammum.
The Second Question
The majority contend that the discovery of water nullifies tayammum, whereas others say that only a new act of ritual impurity does so. The core of the debate is whether the availability of water annuls the ongoing presumption of purity attained through earth or merely prevents that purity from coming into effect in the first place.
Thus, whoever holds that it prevents the initiation of purity by earth says that only ritual impurity annuls it. But whoever holds that it abolishes the continuing presumption of purity says that finding water does indeed nullify it, for a nullifier is precisely what discontinues that presumption.
The majority support their view with the sound ḥadīth in which the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “The earth has been made a place of prayer and a means of purification for me so long as water is not found.” This report is open to two readings: one may understand from “so long as water is not found” that the purification ceases and is lifted upon finding water, or one may understand it to mean that the purification was never valid in the first place if water was present. The strongest evidence in favor of the majority is the ḥadīth of Abū Saʿīd al-Khuḍrī, in which the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—