in the ḥadīth of Umm Salamah that speaks of dry grass.
Out of this discussion three principal points of disagreement emerged, which form the foundations of this chapter:
- Sprinkling (naḍḥ): for which kinds of impurity is it prescribed?
- Wiping (masḥ): to which locations and to which impurities does it apply, beyond the points on which they are already agreed?
- Whether a set number of washings or wipings is required.
As for sprinkling, one group said that it is confined to removing the urine of an infant who has not yet eaten solid food. A second group distinguished between the urine of a male and that of a female child, saying: the urine of a boy is sprinkled, whereas the urine of a girl must be washed. A third group declared: washing purifies that whose impurity is certain, while sprinkling purifies that about which one is in doubt. This last view is the school of Mālik ibn Anas, may Allah be pleased with him.
The reason for their divergence is the apparently conflicting import of the ḥadīths on the matter. Two sound reports on sprinkling are relevant here:
• The ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah: “Infants used to be brought to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—so that he might invoke blessing upon them and rub their palates with a softened date. On one occasion a child was brought and urinated on him, so he called for water and followed the urine with it, yet he did not wash it.” In another narration: “He sprinkled it and did not wash it.” Al-Bukhārī recorded this report.
• The well-known ḥadīth of Anas, who, describing the Prophet’s prayer—peace and blessings be upon him—in his house, said: “I went to a mat of ours that had turned black from long use and sprinkled it with water.”
Some jurists adhered to the implication of ʿĀʾishah’s report, holding that the ruling is specific to the urine of a male infant and constitutes an exception to all other urine. Others preferred the narrations that require washing over this report—this is the school of Mālik—and recognized sprinkling only in the situation mentioned in Anas’s ḥadīth, namely a garment whose impurity is uncertain, taking the words at face value.
Those who differentiated between the urine of a boy and that of a girl relied on what Abū Dāwūd transmitted from Abū al-Samḥ—that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The urine of a female infant is to be washed, and the urine of a male infant is to be sprinkled.” Those who made no such distinction merely drew an analogy from the female to the male child for whom an authentic report exists.
As for wiping, some jurists allowed it wherever the impurity is found, provided its visible trace has disappeared, following the doctrine of