will recognize this. However, if using such substances causes harm, such use is prohibited, just as slaughtering horses used in jihad, camels used for pilgrimage, cattle used for ploughing, and similar animals is prohibited because they are needed, not because they are unclean. As an authentic report concerning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) relates:

“During one of his journeys with his Companions, their provisions ran out. They asked his permission to slaughter their riding camels, and he gave them permission. Then ʿUmar came and asked him to gather the provisions and supplicate to Allah to bless them, so that the riding camels could be spared. He did so.”

His prohibition against slaughtering their riding camels was therefore due to their need for them as mounts, not because camels are forbidden to eat. Likewise, using needed food and drink to remove impurity is prohibited, just as it is prohibited to cleanse oneself after relieving oneself with things whose protected status must be respected: food for humans and jinn, and fodder for the animals of humans and jinn. This is not because these substances cannot be used for cleansing, but because of their protected status. The same reasoning thus applies to liquids as to solids.

The third argument:

Other liquids are more effective than water at transforming impurity into their own substance, while water is more readily altered by impurities than other liquids are. If water does not become impure when impurity falls into it because that impurity is transformed into its own substance, then this applies all the more to other liquids.

The fourth argument:

If the impurity imparts no taste, colour, or smell to water or another liquid, we do not concede that the water or liquid can be deemed impure at all, as in the case of wine that has undergone transformation, or