have the same respective capacities. This is the more evident view, and the matter is discussed in detail in its proper place.

The point here is that the amount of water the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used for ritual bathing ranged from five and one-third to eight Iraqi ratls, and for ablution he used a quarter of that amount. Expressed in Egyptian ratls, these figures are lower.

Accordingly, someone who pours water excessively, bathing with a qintār (a large unit of weight) of water, or less or more, is an innovator acting contrary to the Sunnah. Anyone who adopts this as a religious practice is to receive a punishment that deters him and others like him, as with all those who practise innovations contrary to the Sunnah as acts of religion. All of this is clear from these hadiths.

If it is argued:

Such practices are undertaken only because the water may be impure or previously used for purification. A vessel, such as a bowl resting on the ground, may have been contaminated by impurities on the ground and then used to scoop water. Or someone in a state of major ritual impurity may have immersed his hand in it, making it used water. Condensation may have dripped into it from an impure bathhouse ceiling, or one that might be impure. Or some of those entering may have immersed impure limbs in it, thereby contaminating it. Because the water may be impure or previously used, we have taken precautions for the sake of our religion and turned instead to water that is certainly purifying, in accordance with the Prophet’s words (peace and blessings be upon him):

“Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt.”

And his words:

“Whoever avoids doubtful matters safeguards his honour and his religion.”