Second, purification may mean purification from ritual impurity, and its opposite is ritual impurity. Thus, when Ahmad was asked about something of this kind, he said in one of his answers: “It is the most impure kind of water.” Some of his followers thought he meant that a person in a state of major ritual impurity was physically impure, and transmitted this as an opinion attributed to him.

Ahmad meant only ritual impurity. Ahmad—may Allah be pleased with him—would never contradict a clear Sunnah known to him, and the Sunnah on this matter is too evident to escape even the least of his followers. Nevertheless, he is reported to have said: “Wash it off your body.” The correct understanding is that this does not establish its impurity, since washing used water off the body is not obligatory by scholarly agreement. However, two opinions have been transmitted from Ahmad—may Allah have mercy on him—concerning whether washing it off the body is recommended. The opinion indicating that it is recommended rests on the doubt involved. The correct view is that this is neither obligatory nor recommended, for this was the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): they did not wash their clothes because of the ablution water that splashed onto them.

Third, purification may mean purification from foul substances that are physically impure. It is this kind of impurity that is at issue here. The claim that used water has become equivalent to foul substances, such as blood, water contaminated by impurity, and the like, is precisely the view whose invalidity is demonstrated by the revealed texts, the consensus of the early scholars, and clear analogy.

Accordingly, it is not disliked to purify oneself with any of the water in basins and pools in bathhouses, along roads, at mosque entrances, in schools, or elsewhere, even if there has fallen into them