Book of Purification from Impurities

Chapter One: Determining the Ruling of This Purification

A comprehensive treatment of the foundational principles of purification from impurity is confined to six chapters:

Chapter One:
On discerning the ruling of this purification—namely, whether it is obligatory or merely recommended, either in an absolute sense or because it is a prerequisite for the prayer.

Chapter Two:
On identifying the various types of impurities.

Chapter Three:
On specifying the places from which impurity must be removed.

Chapter Four:
On identifying the substances with which impurity is removed.

Chapter Five:
On describing how impurity is removed in each particular case.

Chapter Six:
On the etiquettes related to acts that nullify purity.

Chapter One:
On determining the ruling of this purification. The textual basis in this regard, in the Qur’an, is the Almighty’s saying:

“And purify your garments.” (al-Muddaththir 74:4)

From the Sunnah there are many sound reports, such as his statement, peace and blessings be upon him,
“Whoever performs ablution, let him rinse his nose,”
“and whoever cleanses himself with stones, let him use an odd number.”
Among them also are his ﷺ command to wash menstrual blood from a garment, his command to pour a bucketful of water over the Bedouin’s urine, and his words regarding the two people in the grave:
“They are being punished, yet they are not being punished for something grave; as for one of them, he used not to keep himself clear of urine.”

Because of these transmitted texts the scholars unanimously agreed that removing impurity is required by the Sharīʿah, yet they differed: is it obligatory or the type of emphatic recommendation referred to as Sunnah?

Some said that removing impurities is obligatory; this is the view of Abū Ḥanīfah and al-Shāfiʿī. Others held that its removal is an emphatically recommended Sunnah and not a strict obligation. A third group maintained that it is obligatory when one remembers but waived in cases of forgetfulness; both of these latter opinions are reported from Mālik and his companions.