Jurisprudence

Q 69: If the lower part of qalīl water that flows downward without pressure comes into contact with a najis substance, will its upper part remain pure?
A: The upper part of the flowing water will be pure if the water can be said to be flowing from a higher plane to a lower one.

Q 70: When purifying najis clothes in kurr/running water, is it necessary to wring them out; or after removing inherently najis substance, is permeation enough?
A: As per caution, they should be wrung out or shaken.

Q 71: To purify najis clothes in water, whether it is running water or kurr water; is it obligatory to wring out the clothes with the clothes out of the water, or will they become purified when squeezed inside the water?
A: It will suffice to wring them out or shake them inside the water.

Q 72: To purify a najis carpet or the like, is it enough to apply tap water — which is connected to the city water supply pipes — to a najis area; or should the used water be extracted as well?
A: After applying piped water, removal of the used water is not necessary; rather, after the inherently najis substance has been removed, water has reached the najis area, and the used water has been removed from this area by pressing with the hand while connected to piped water; the carpet becomes pure.

Q 73: What is the rule of wuḍū’ or ghusl made with water hard by nature such as sea water which is hard by its natural salts (like the water of Urumiyeh Lake in Iran) or water that is harder than that?
A: The mere hardness of the water due to the presence of salts does not prevent it from being considered as unadulterated water. And the criteria by which the shar‘ī application of unadulterated water comes into effect, is that the water must be regarded as such in the common view.

Q 74: For the consequences of kurr water to apply (in the case of waters such as the water stored in train toilets, etc.), is it obligatory to know for sure that the water is kurr? Or is it enough to assume that it is kurr?
A: If it is established that the water was kurr in its previous situation, it will be permissible to apply rules of kurr water to it.

Q 75: According to ruling no. 147 of Imam Khomeini’s (q.) book on Practical laws of Islam, "one should not depend on what a discriminating child says concerning purity and najāsah until he becomes legally mature." This ruling involves a difficult obligation because it entails, for instance, that parents should keep cleaning their child after he goes to the toilet until the child becomes fifteen years old. What is the religious duty in this regard?
A: The statement of a child who is close to the age of shar‘ī puberty is valid in this regard.

Q 76: Occasionally, a certain substance is added to water that makes its color milky. Is such water considered adulterated? And what is the rule with respect to using it for wuḍū’ and purification?
A: The rules of adulterated water do not apply to it.

Q 77: What is the difference between running water and kurr water as far as purification is concerned?
A: There is no difference between the two in this regard.

Q 78: Is it valid to perform wuḍū’ with the water collected from the vapor of boiling salty water?
A: If the water can be called unadulterated water, the shar‘ī rules of unadulterated water will apply to it.

Q 79: In order to purify the bottom of one’s foot or shoes one should walk at least fifteen steps. Is this true only after removing the inherently najis material, or can the foot be purified even while the said material is there? Thus, does the bottom of one’s foot or shoes become purified when the inherently najis material is removed by walking fifteen steps?
A: When the bottom of one’s shoes / soles of feet become najis as a result of walking, one can purify them by walking almost ten steps on a dry and pure ground provided that the inherently najis substance is removed.

Q 80: Are the roads paved with asphalt or other materials considered as instances of the earth that purifies, so that by walking upon them the sole of the feet or the underneath surface of the shoes can be purified?
A: Grounds paved with asphalt or covered with tar do not purify the sole of feet or the bottom of shoes.

Q 81: Is the sun considered one of the purifying agents? If so, what are the conditions for it to purify?
A: The sun purifies the ground and all irremovable objects such as buildings, objects connected to them and/or whatever is fixed inside of them — such as timbers, doors and so forth. These things are purified by sunshine provided that at first the inherently najis substance is removed, and then they are wet and in the sun until it dries them up.

Q 82: How can we purify najis clothes which color the water while being washed?
A: If it does not make the water adulterated, the clothes will become pure by pouring water on them.

Q 83: Someone put water in a vessel in order to use it for the ghusl of janābah. If some water drops fall from his body into the vessel during the ghusl, will the water become najis? And will there be any problem in completion of the ghusl with this water?
A: If the water falls into the vessel from some part of the body that is pure, then the water remains to be pure and there is no problem in completing ghusl with it.

Q 84: Is it possible to purify a clay oven built of clay that has been mixed with najis water?
A: Washing can purify its surfaces and for baking it is sufficient to purify the surfaces of the clay oven on which the bread dough is placed.

Q 85: Does najis oil remain najis after performing a chemical reaction on it so that it has new properties or does the metamorphosis rule apply to it?
A: For the purification of a najis substance, it is not sufficient merely to perform chemical reaction upon it so as to give it new properties.

Q 86: There is a bathhouse with a flat roof in our village. In this bathhouse, drops of water that are created from the steam in the bathhouse fall from the roof on the heads of the people who are bathing. Are these drops of water pure? Is the ghusl performed after these drops fall valid?
A: Both the steam and the drops of water that fall from the pure roof are ruled to be pure. Therefore, bodily contact with these drops of water does not harm the correctness of the ghusl and does not make the body najis.

Q 87: Scientific studies have shown that after sewage system water mixes with mineral pollutants and germs its specific gravity becomes ten percent more than the normal water. The filtration plant changes the water obtained from the sewage system and separates these materials and germs from them through physical, chemical and biological operations. Hence, after being purified in various respects — physically (color, taste, and odor), chemically (removal of mineral pollutants), and hygienically (removal of harmful germs and parasites ova), it becomes by far much cleaner and better than the water of many rivers and lakes, especially the water used for irrigation. Does najis drainage water become pure by the aforementioned process and does the rule of metamorphosis apply to this type of water? Or is the water, after going thorough such a process of filtration, ruled to be najis?
A: Metamorphosis would not be achieved just by separating mineral pollutants, germs, etc., from drainage water unless the purification process is done by evaporating the water and condensing its vapor into water again.