it is extremely salty and bitter and has a strongly unpleasant odor (1). Water altered by pure substances is therefore in a better condition than seawater. The latter’s alteration is inherent, however, whereas the former’s is incidental.

Yet this distinction has no bearing on whether it is called water. Those who take it into account maintain that analogy would dictate that ablution not be performed with seawater or similar water, but that its use was permitted because it cannot be kept free of substances that alter it (2). The fundamental principle, however, is that rulings accord with analogy rather than depart from it. If seawater falls within the wording, then the other water does as well (3); otherwise, it does not. This is a matter of what the wording denotes, not of analogical reasoning, such that hardship or its absence should be taken into consideration.

[On the Rāfidī’s assertion that Ahl al-Sunnah permit prayer in a dog’s hide]

As for praying in a dog’s hide, only Abū Hanīfah permits it when it has been tanned (4). This is the view of a group of scholars and is not unique to him (5). Their evidence (6) is the Prophet’s statement—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“Any hide that is tanned becomes pure.” (7)

This is a matter of ijtihād and is not among the issues warranting denunciation (8). And if it were said