by their unanimous agreement.

As for water altered by oils, camphor, and similar substances, there are two well-known opinions within the schools of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and others. Where the alteration is slight, should it be disregarded, not disregarded, or should a distinction be drawn between changes in smell and other changes? There are three views on this, alongside other such questions.

The second opinion is that no distinction is made between water altered by its natural condition and water altered otherwise, nor between alteration caused by something difficult to guard against and alteration caused by something that is not. So long as it is still called water and the components of other substances do not predominate, it remains pure and purifying. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah and of Ahmad according to the other report from him—the position he expressly stated in most of his answers. This opinion is correct, because Allah, Glorified and Exalted, says:

“And if you are ill or on a journey, or one of you has relieved himself, or you have touched women, and you find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe your faces and hands with it.”

In His words, “and you find no water,” the word “water” is an indefinite noun in a negative construction, so it encompasses everything that is water, without distinguishing one kind from another.

If it is said, “Altered water does not fall under the designation ‘water,’” the response is: In its application to what it denotes, the designation makes no distinction between an original alteration and a subsequent one, nor between an alteration that can be guarded against and one that cannot. The distinction between these cases is made only on the basis of analogical reasoning, because people need to