Second: The lām of the definite article can take the place of a possessive construction. Thus, “from urine” is equivalent to “from his urine.” This resembles the statement, “With the gates open to them,” meaning “their gates.”

Third: This hadith has been transmitted through authentic chains with the wording, “For he did not keep himself free of his own urine.” This explains the other version.

Furthermore, this variation in wording arose later than Mansūr; al-A‘mash narrated it from Mujāhid, from Ibn ‘Abbās. It is well known that a hadith transmitter does not combine these two wordings. The default assumption, and the apparent conclusion, is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not repeat this statement. It is therefore evident that they transmitted it by meaning, and it is unclear which wording was the original. Moreover, if the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did use both wordings, then although the meaning of one could either agree with or differ from that of the other, the apparent conclusion is that they agree. This is clarified by the fact that the hadith recounts what happened when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by two graves, and this was clearly a single incident.

Fourth: It reports that a particular individual would be soiled by urine and would not keep himself free of it. It is well known that what ordinarily occurs is that a person is soiled by his own urine.

Fifth: Al-Hasan said, “All urine is impure.” Yet he also said, “There is no harm in the urine of sheep and goats.” It is therefore evident that, in his usage, “urine” without qualification means human urine.