Legal and physical impurity, and the ways things are purified
The difference between legal impurity (hadath) and physical impurity (najasah), and the twelve recognised ways of purifying something.
"Impurity" can mean two different kinds of things. One is about your own state: whether you need to make wudu or ghusl before you pray. The other is about actual dirty substances, like on your clothes or skin.
| Kind | What it means |
|---|---|
| Legal impurity (hadath) | The state you're in when you can't pray or touch the Quran yet. Major impurity needs ghusl (or tayammum) to fix; minor impurity just needs wudu (or tayammum). |
| Physical impurity (najasah) | An actual dirty substance, like urine or feces. "Severe" najasah is definitely impure, no question about it. "Light" najasah is impurity that scholars are not fully sure about. |
Legal impurity must always be removed by making wudu, ghusl or tayammum; there is never an excuse to skip this before praying.
Physical impurity on your body or clothes must be removed when it would stop your prayer from being valid, as long as removing it is not extremely difficult.
"Impurity" is used for two different things in fiqh: legal impurity, which is a state a person is in, and physical impurity, which is an actual substance.
| Kind | Sub-type | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Legal impurity (hadath) | Major impurity | The state in which a person cannot pray or touch the Quran without performing ghusl (or tayammum) |
| Legal impurity (hadath) | Minor impurity | The state in which a person cannot pray or touch the Quran without performing wudu (or tayammum) |
| Physical impurity (najasah) | Severe (ghaliza) | Impurity that is undoubtedly impure; there is no difference of scholarly opinion about it |
| Physical impurity (najasah) | Light (khafifa) | Impurity about which there is doubt, and scholars may differ |
Removing legal impurity is obligatory without any exception; it is never excused. It is removed only with pure (mutlaq) water, not water that has other substances mixed into it.
Removing physical impurity is also obligatory, but only where it would prevent prayer from being valid and where it can be removed without excessive difficulty. It may be removed with pure water or with water mixed with other substances, and other methods exist as well.
Things that are inherently impure (feces, alcohol, and the like) can never be purified as such. They become pure only if their essential nature changes: feces turning into soil, or alcohol turning into vinegar. Things that are not inherently impure, but became impure temporarily through contact with an impurity, genuinely can be purified, by whichever method suits the item, as set out below.
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Ghusl (washing) | Washing with pure water, used water, or anything pure and flowing such as rosewater, vinegar or coconut water. Milk or oil cannot be used, since their greasiness prevents it. |
| Inqilab and Istihala (change of nature) | Any impure item, whether inherently or temporarily impure, becomes pure if its essential nature changes, through burning, chemical processing, or another method. |
| Masah (wiping) | Wiping with a wet cloth, hand, or other moist material purifies non-porous items such as mirrors, swords or knives. |
| Ihraq (burning) | Items of clay, stone, or other non-porous, burnable material are purified by burning. |
| Lahs (licking) | A temporarily impure item is purified by being licked by an animal whose saliva is pure (a cow, a goat, or a young child not yet of discerning age). |
| Fark (rubbing off dry semen) | Purifies clothes or skin soiled with dried semen, from either a man or a woman. |
| Hath and Dalk (scraping and rubbing) | Purifies items of leather or hide (shoes, socks, boots) by scraping or rubbing with a knife, the nails, or another tool. |
| Hafr and Qalb (digging and turning over) | Digging the earth and turning its top and bottom over purifies soil by removing the impurity. |
| Yabis and Jafaf (drying) | Purifies earth or plant-based material through exposure to sunlight, fire or air. |
| Nazh (the flow of water from a well) | Purifies the water, dirt, bricks, the rope or bucket used at a well, and the hands and feet of those drawing the water. |
| Dabh (slaughtering) | The meat and skin of halal animals become pure through proper slaughter, except the pig. |
| Dabaghat (tanning) | Leather becomes pure through tanning, whether done with chemicals or without, as long as the smell of decay is gone. Every animal's skin except the pig's is purified this way. |
The methods for purifying particular things (the body, clothes, skins, earth, metal and glass, utensils, oil and honey, and other items) are set out individually in the following section.
"Impurity" carries two distinct senses in fiqh: ḥadath, a legal state attaching to the person, and najāsah, a physical substance.
| Kind | Sub-type | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Ḥadath (legal impurity) | Ḥadath akbar (major) | The state in which a person may not pray or touch the Qurʼan without ghusl (or tayammum) |
| Ḥadath (legal impurity) | Ḥadath aṣghar (minor) | The state in which a person may not pray or touch the Qurʼan without wuḍūʾ (or tayammum) |
| Najāsah (physical impurity) | Ghalīẓah (severe) | Impurity that is unambiguously najis, with no scholarly disagreement on the point |
| Najāsah (physical impurity) | Khafīfah (light) | Impurity on which there is genuine doubt, and scholars differ |
The removal of ḥadath is obligatory without exception, under no circumstance excused, and is accomplished only with muṭlaq water, never water mixed with another substance.
The removal of najāsah is likewise obligatory, but conditioned on its actually preventing valid prayer and on its removal not entailing excessive difficulty (ḥaraj). It may be removed with muṭlaq or muqayyad water, and by other methods besides.
Substances najis by their own essence (feces, alcohol) admit of no purification as such; they become ṭāhir only through istiḥālah, a change in their essential nature (feces becoming soil, alcohol becoming vinegar). Substances not najis by essence, but rendered impure temporarily through contact, are genuinely susceptible to purification, by whichever of the recognised methods fits the item.
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
| Ghusl (washing) | With pure water, mustaʿmal water, or any pure flowing liquid such as rosewater, vinegar or coconut water. Milk and oil cannot serve this purpose, on account of their greasiness. |
| Inqilāb and Istiḥālah (change of nature) | Any impure item, whether najis by essence or by contact, becomes pure once its essential nature is transformed, by burning, chemical processing, or another means. |
| Masḥ (wiping) | A wet cloth, hand, or other moist material purifies non-porous items (mirrors, swords, knives). |
| Iḥrāq (burning) | Purifies items of clay, stone, or other non-porous, combustible material. |
| Laḥs (licking) | A temporarily impure item is purified when licked by a creature whose saliva is pure (a cow, a goat, or a non-discerning child). |
| Fark (rubbing off dried semen) | Purifies clothing or the body soiled with dried semen, from a man or a woman alike. |
| Ḥathth and Dalk (scraping and rubbing) | Purifies items of leather or hide (shoes, socks, boots) by scraping or rubbing with a knife, the nails, or a similar tool. |
| Ḥafr and Qalb (digging and inversion) | Digging the earth and inverting its upper and lower layers purifies the soil by removing the najāsah. |
| Yabis and Jafāf (drying) | Purifies earth or plant matter through exposure to sunlight, fire or air. |
| Nazḥ (the running-off of well water) | Purifies the water, the surrounding earth and brickwork, the rope or bucket used, and the hands and feet of those who draw the water. |
| Dhabḥ (slaughter) | The flesh and hide of ḥalāl animals are purified by proper slaughter, the pig excepted. |
| Dibāghah (tanning) | Purifies hide, whether tanned with chemical agents or without, provided the odour of decay is gone; this applies to every animal's skin except the pig's. |
The purification of specific items (the body, clothes, skins, earth, iron and glass, utensils, oil and honey, and miscellaneous items) is treated individually in the following section.
Terms on this page
Related
- How to purify the body, clothes, and other things How impurity is removed from the body, clothes, skins, the ground, metal and glass, utensils, oil and honey, and other items.
- Severe and light impurity, what is excused, and what is not impure at all What counts as severe or light impurity, how much of each is excused on the body or clothes, and things that are not impure at all.
- The types of water, and which can be used for purification Absolute, flowing, still, large-quantity, small-quantity, restricted and used water, and the rulings that attach to each.
- What makes a well impure, and how to purify it What does and does not make well water impure, how many buckets purify it, bucket size, and how long the impurity is assumed to last.