is the religion of the Christians, while the religion of Islam takes the middle course. Thus, any position that embodies something of this moderation is closer to the religion of Islam.

Another principle concerns the mixing of the lawful with the unlawful, such as mixing a pure liquid with something impure. The strictness of the Kufan scholars’ position on this is unmistakable.

The reasoning underlying their position is that water is treated like all other liquids: when impurity falls into a liquid, using that liquid necessarily entails using the impurity itself, so using the whole mixture becomes forbidden. Yet transmitted reports declaring liquids other than water impure are few.

At the opposite end stand Mālik and other scholars of Medina. According to their well-known position, they regard water as impure only if it undergoes a change, and they do not prohibit the use of previously used water or other water. They strongly affirm water’s purifying capacity, while distinguishing it from other liquids. One position reported from Ahmad agrees with theirs. His well-known position, however, takes a middle course by distinguishing between small and large quantities of water, as al-Shāfiʿī does.