- Some versions of the ḥadīth read, “then he should bathe from it,” while others say, “then he should bathe in it.” The two prepositions convey different meanings: fī (in) denotes place, and thus immersion in the water that has been urinated in, whereas min (from) is partitive and therefore implies drawing water from it. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar observed that the wording “in it” explicitly indicates immersion and implicitly rules out merely scooping, while the wording “from it” does the reverse.
Ruling on a vessel from which a dog has drunk or lapped
Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “If a dog drinks from the vessel of any one of you, let him wash it seven times,” and Muslim adds, “the first of them with earth.”
Muslim also relates, in the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When a dog laps in a vessel, wash it seven times and rub it an eighth time with earth.”
Lexical notes
- “If he laps” (idhā walagh; present tense yalagh, both with the first vowel fathah) means to drink with the tip of the tongue—namely, to insert the tongue into water or any other liquid and move it about, even if nothing is swallowed. Drinking is therefore a narrower act than lapping.
- “ʿAffirūhu” (rub it with earth): al-taʿfīr is to smear or roll something in dust, i.e., soil.
- “Awlāhunna” is the feminine form of “first,” the pronoun hā referring to the instances of washing. Some reports employ the masculine form because the feminine here is grammatical rather than real.
Overall meaning
Because the dog is among the repulsive animals that carry abundant filth and disease, the wise Lawgiver instructed that any vessel into which it has lapped be washed seven times, the first of those washings incorporating soil, followed by water, so that complete purification from its impurity and potential harm is achieved.
Scholarly disagreement
The jurists have differed on a number of issues, among them whether the seven washings and the use of soil are obligatory.