scooping water from it. They also argued that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described someone who drinks from gold and silver vessels as gulping the fire of Hell into his belly, even though, by the time the water pours into his belly, it has already left the vessel.

The second distinction—which is more sound in jurisprudential terms—is this: they said that when a prohibition concerns an essential element or a condition of an act of worship, it affects its validity, as when it concerns the clothing worn or the place used for prayer. But when it concerns something external to the act of worship, it does not affect its validity. The vessel used for purification is external to the purification itself; hence, it does not affect its validity. And Allah knows best.

He was asked:

Do the hides of donkeys, animals whose meat may not be eaten, and animals that have died without lawful slaughter become pure through tanning or not? Please give us a ruling; may you be rewarded.

He answered:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds.

Regarding whether tanning purifies the hides of animals that have died without lawful slaughter, scholars generally hold two well-known views.

The first is that they become pure through tanning. This is the view of most scholars, including Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad according to one of the two positions reported from him.