In some versions she says, “I would scrape it from the garment of the Messenger of Allah — peace and blessings be upon him,” and in others, “and he would then pray in that garment.” Muslim is the one who transmitted this additional wording.

The second cause of their disagreement lies in the uncertain classification of semen: should it be compared to the bodily states that nullify ritual purity, or rather to the discharge of inherently pure substances such as milk? Whoever reconciles all the reports by treating the instruction to wash as a matter of cleanliness, and who infers from the scraping that the substance itself is pure—because scraping does not remove impurity—and who therefore likens it to milk and other noble secretions, will not regard it as impure. By contrast, whoever gives precedence to the ḥadīth that commands washing over the one that mentions scraping, and from that derives impurity—seeing semen as closer to the occurrences that require purification than to those that do not—will declare it impure. Likewise, anyone who holds that impurity can be removed merely by scraping will say: the very act of scraping indicates its impurity just as washing does; this is the opinion of Abū Ḥanīfah.

Accordingly, ʿĀ’ishah’s wording, “so he would pray in it,” is no proof for those who deem it pure; rather, it supports Abū Ḥanīfah in that impurity may be removed without water, which is contrary to the Mālikī position.

[Chapter Three: On knowing the objects from which impurities are to be removed]

Chapter Three: On identifying the things from which impurity must be removed. These are three, and there is no disagreement about them: (1) the human body, (2) clothing, and (3) mosques and places of prayer. The scholars agreed on these three because they are explicitly mentioned in the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

As for clothing, the proof is the Almighty’s statement, “And purify your garments” (al-Muddaththir 74:4), according to those who understand the verse literally, together with the authentic reports in which the Prophet — peace and blessings be upon him — ordered that menstrual blood be washed from a garment and that water be poured over the urine of a nursing boy who had urinated on it.

As for mosques, the proof is his command — peace and blessings be upon him — to pour a bucket of water over the Bedouin’s urine in the mosque. It is likewise established from him — peace and blessings be upon him — that he ordered the washing of pre-ejaculatory fluid (madhy) from the body and the cleansing of impurities from the two exits.