food.

All this establishes several points.

One is that urine may be treated more leniently according to the diet, as in the case of a young boy. It has been established that animals lawful to eat have only wholesome food as their diet, so it is hardly surprising that their urine should consequently be pure.

Another is that when food is foul and corrupt, the flesh, milk, and eggs produced from it become unlawful, as with filth-eating animals, crops fertilized with dung, and birds that eat carrion. If its corruption can render impure what would otherwise be pure and lawful, it is hardly surprising that its wholesomeness and lawfulness should render pure something that, in another setting, would be impure and unlawful. Dung and urine are substances transformed and produced within the animal’s body, just like milk and other substances.

This is illustrated by the differences between these droppings and other droppings in form, smell, colour, and other characteristics. The distinction between them is thus like the distinction between the two kinds of milk and the two kinds of growth. This also makes clear how they differ from human excrement.

This is further supported by what we have already explained: from early times until today, Muslims in every age and land have continually used cattle to thresh food crops. The cattle’s dung and urine come into contact with the grain, and we have never heard of any Muslim