“And He is the One who sends the winds as glad tidings before His mercy, and We send down from the sky purifying water.” (48)

“And He is the One who sends the winds as glad tidings before His mercy,” meaning, before the rain. “And We send down from the sky purifying water”: that is, water which is pure in itself and purifies other things. It is a term for that by which one purifies oneself, just as the pre-dawn meal denotes what is eaten before dawn, and the meal for breaking the fast denotes what is used to break the fast. The evidence for this is the report we have related that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said concerning the sea: “Its water is purifying, and its dead animals are lawful.” (1) By this he meant that it purifies. Water is purifying because it cleanses a person of ritual impurity and physical filth, as He says in another verse: “And He sends down upon you water from the sky to purify you thereby.” (al-Anfal 8:11) This establishes that purification is restricted to water.

The adherents of legal opinion held that “purifying” merely means “pure,” and therefore permitted the removal of physical impurity with pure liquids such as vinegar, rosewater, broth, and the like. (2) Yet if physical impurity could be removed with such liquids, ritual impurity could likewise be removed with them. Some of them held that “purifying” is that from which purification may be repeatedly performed, just as “patient” describes one from whom patience repeatedly occurs, and “grateful” one from whom gratitude repeatedly occurs. This was the view of Malik, who therefore permitted ablution with water that had already been used once for ablution. (3)

If something falls into water and changes its taste, colour, or smell, does it lose its purifying quality? This requires distinction. If what falls into it is something from which water cannot be protected, such as mud, soil, and leaves from trees, it does not lose that quality, and purification with it remains permissible—just as when it changes because it has remained for a long time in its place of collection. The same applies if something that does not mix with it falls into it, such as oil that is poured into it, and the water takes on its odour