unaware of the different prayers, their prescribed numbers and times, and other manifest religious ordinances. They were therefore all the more likely to be unaware of an obscure condition concerning an obscure matter—especially since these people had not acquired even the slightest understanding of religion, which is why they apostatized. Nor had they associated with people of knowledge and wisdom. Rather, when they embraced Islam and became ill from the unwholesome conditions, he instructed them to live in the desert. How, then, I wonder, could they have known about this obscure matter?

Fourth: In his teaching and guidance, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not leave instruction to others. Rather, he explained to each person whatever they needed to know. This is well known to anyone thoroughly acquainted with the transmitted Sunnah.

Fifth: The impurity of this dung is no more obvious than the impurity of human urine, which was known even to maidens in their curtained chambers and secluded quarters. Yet he warned the Emigrants and Helpers about it, although they had been endowed with knowledge and faith. Thus, on this reasoning, rough Bedouins would have known more about obscure matters than the Emigrants and Helpers knew about obvious ones. You can see what this amounts to.

Sixth: He distinguished between the urine and the milk and treated them both in the same manner. Mentioning two things together, even if it does not establish their equal status, must at least give rise to uncertainty. Thus, even if clarification had not otherwise been obligatory, pairing it with something pure would have required distinguishing between the two, if such a distinction were valid.