Comparative Fatwas on Purity

Fatwās of the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei (d.)

1- When "kurr" water is measured in kilo, according to the strongest view it is equal to 377.419 kilograms.

1- Kurr water is approximately 384 liters.

2- Question: How must the People of the Book be dealt with as regards purity?
Answer: Non-Muslims, whatever their religion or creed is, are ruled najis.

2- It is not known that the People of the Book are inherently najis. In our view, they are ruled inherently tāhir.
Ahlul kitāb are as follows: Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Sabaeans.

3-Droppings of the birds, whose meat is ḥarām, are najis.

3- Droppings of the birds whose meat is ḥarām are not najis.

4- The blood which can be found inside an egg is not najis but it, by obligatory caution, should not be eaten. However, if the blood, as a result of stirring, dissolves in the yolk so that no sign of it remains, there is no problem in eating the yolk.

4- The blood found in an egg is ruled tāhir, but eating it is ḥarām.

5- Question: Some leather is imported from foreign countries and used for making shoes and other things. Is it ruled pure or najis?
Answer: The leather imported from an Islamic country is ruled pure unless there is a shar‘ī evidence that the animal was not slaughtered in accordance with Islam. As for the leather which is imported from a non-Islamic country, it is ruled najis unless there is a shar‘ī evidence that the process of slaughtering was Islamic, or there is a possibility that the Muslim importer ascertained the proper slaughter in a shar‘ī way and then sold the leather to Muslims).

5- Question: Will you give us your view concerning leather and other animal parts imported from non-Islamic countries?
Answer: If there is a possibility that the animal has been slaughtered according to the Islamic law, they are ruled pure, but if you are sure that it has not, they are ruled najis.

6- Alcoholic beverages and intoxicants, in case they are liquid in origin, are najis.

6- Intoxicating drinks are, by caution, najis.

7- If something (i.e. the first medium) which has become najis as a result of contacting an intrinsically najis thing comes into contact with a pure thing, the latter becomes najis and makes other things najis on contact. However, the fourth medium does not make things najis although it is najis.

7- If something, which has become najis as a result of contacting something intrinsically najis, comes into contact with something pure and one of them is wet, it makes the pure thing najis. If this second medium which has become najis as a result of its contact with the first medium comes into contact with something pure (the third medium), the latter, by obligatory caution, becomes najis but it does not make other things najis.

8. If a dog licks a vessel or drinks water or some other liquid from it, the vessel should first be wiped with pure soil and then, by obligatory caution, washed two times with running, kurr or qalīl water. Also, a vessel in which a dog poured its saliva should, on obligatory caution basis, be wiped with soil before washing it.

8. The vessel in which a dog drank water or some other liquid or has been licked by a dog should first be wiped with soil and then washed with water, it has to be washed two times after being wiped with soil.

9. The vessel from which a pig drank some liquid should be washed seven times with qalīl water. If it is kurr/running water, the vessel should be washed seven times by obligatory caution. It is not necessary to wipe such a vessel with soil although doing so goes with mustaḥabb caution. According to the obligatory caution, a vessel which is licked by a pig has the same previous ruling.

9. A vessel in which a pig ate a liquid food or drank a liquid has to be washed seven times with water but wiping it with soil is not necessary.

10. For purifying the sole of one’s foot or the bottom of the shoes, it is preferable to walk for 15 steps or more even though the najis material is removed by lesser steps or by wiping it on the earth.

10. If the sole of one’s foot or the bottom of one’s shoes becomes najis by contacting an inherently najis material while walking on the earth, they become pure by walking for approximately 10 steps on a dry, pure earth on the condition that the inherently najis material is removed or it disappears.

11. Sun [light] is a purifier for earth, the building and things attached to the building like a window, a door and even the nail hammered in the wall — which is considered a part of the building — on 6 conditions:
First: the najis place should be so wet that if another thing touches it, it becomes wet. In case the place is dry, they should make it wet to get, then, dry by the sun.
2nd: If an inherently najis material is there, it has to be removed before being purified by sun.
3rd: There should be nothing to stop sunlight from reaching the najis place/thing like a curtain, clouds or the like. Thus, if sun dries some najis thing from behind such barriers, it is not made pure. However, if the clouds are so light that they would not prevent sunlight from shining on the place, it is not problematic.
4th: The sun should be the only drier. In other words, if the najis thing is dried by both sun and wind, it does not become pure. But, if the wind is so slight that one cannot say that it has assisted in drying this object, it is not problematic.
5th: The sun should dry the part of the ground or building into which the najis material has been absorbed in one occasion. That is, if sun dries the najis surface at a time and on another occasion dries the underneath part, only the surface becomes pure while the part below remains najis.
6th: There should be no air or pure object separating the najis surface of the earth or building on which sun shines from its interior.

11. The sun is a purifier for the earth and building and anything considered as part of a building like a window, a door, a wall, a pillar and the like in addition to trees and plants. The conditions required for such things to be purified by sun are as follows: a) they are wet and free from an inherently najis material b) the sun shines on them so that they become dry by the means of sun rays.

12. If an inherently najis material like blood or a najis thing like najis water touches an animal’s body, the animal’s body becomes pure just by their disappearance. The same rule applies to the interior of the human body like the oral and nasal cavities in such a way that if one’s gum bleeds but the blood disappears in the saliva, there is no need to wash the oral cavity with water. But, if an artificial tooth inside the mouth becomes najis, it should, by obligatory caution, be washed with water.

12. If an animal’s body becomes najis with a najis thing, it becomes pure just by the disappearance of that thing and there is no need to wash with water. The rule is the same with the interior parts of a human body like oral and nasal cavities provided that the najis material has not come from outside. Therefore, if the gum bleeds and the blood disappears in the saliva, the mouth cavity is pure.

13. The 10th purifying agent is the disappearance of a Muslim person, i.e. disappearance of a Muslim makes the human body, and his/her clothes, carpet, vessel or everything else at his/her disposal pure if he/she treats them as pure unless one knows that najāsah still exists and it is not remote that any other condition is not necessary. Therefore, the rule of purity applies whether this person was aware of najāsah or not, he/she believes that the things were najis or not or he/she is careless about religious matters or not. But, in any way, it is nice to observe caution.

13- whenever one is sure that a Muslim’s body, clothes or anything else that belongs to him is najis and one does not see that Muslim for a period and then sees him dealing with that thing as if it is pure, this thing is ruled pure on condition that the owner is aware of its previous state, i.e. it was najis, and of the rules of purity, as well.

14- If, after removing the inherently najis material from a najis thing, it is dipped once into kurr or running water so that the water reaches all its najis spots, it becomes pure. On obligatory caution basis, carpet, clothes and the like be wrung or shaken so that the water is taken out.

14- If a najis thing, from which the inherently najis material is removed, is dipped once into kurr or running water or put under a tap which is connected to kurr water so that the water reaches all its najis spots, it becomes pure. As for carpet, clothes and the like they should, by caution, be wrung or shaken inside water after dipping them in it.

15- The urinary outlet cannot be made pure without using water, and it is enough for a male to wash it once after the removal of urine. As for females or those with urinary diversion, they should — by obligatory caution — wash it twice.

15- Question: What is the ruling of washing urinary outlet and anal orifice with qalīl water?
Answer: For purifying the urinary outlet with qalīl water, it must, by obligatory caution, be washed twice. As for the anal orifice, it is necessary to be washed until the inherently najis material and its traces disappear.

16. Whenever the faeces is removed from the anal orifice by a stone, a clod or the like — although its becoming pure is a matter of consideration, praying like that is not objected and things that come into contact with the area do not become najis. The small particles and the viscidity that remain in the area are no problem either.
It is not necessary to clean the anal orifice with three stones or three pieces of cloth but it is enough to do so using different corners/parts of a single stone or piece of cloth. Moreover, if the faeces is removed by wiping with the mentioned things only once, it suffices.

16. There are two ways for purifying the anal orifice:
1- Washing it with water until the inherently najis material is removed. Then there is no need for further washing.
2- Using three clean stones, three clean pieces of cloth or the like to remove the inherently najis material. If the inherently najis material is not entirely removed, more stones or pieces of cloth must be used to remove it completely. However, instead of using three stones or three pieces of cloth, one can make use of three parts of a single stone or that of a piece of cloth.