Question: What does taharat (purification) from najasat mean?
ANSWER
There must be no najasat (things that Islam prescribes as impure) on the body, on the clothes, and on the place of salat. A kerchief, a headgear, a skullcap, a turban, khuffs, and nalins (pattens) are considered clothing. Since the hanging part of a scarf wrapped around one’s neck moves as one moves when performing salat, it is included with the clothes, and the salat will not be accepted if this part of the scarf is not clean. When those parts where one steps and puts one’s head on the cloth spread on the ground are clean, the salat will be accepted even if there is najasat on its other parts because the cloth, unlike the scarf, is not united with the body. However, the salat of a person carrying urine in a closed bottle is not accepted because the bottle is not the place where the urine is produced. [Hence, it is not permissible to perform salat while one has in one’s pocket a closed bottle of alcohol or a closed box containing a bloody handkerchief or a piece of cloth smeared with najasat.]

The places where one’s two feet step and where one puts one’s head must be clean. The salat performed on cloth, glassware, or nylon spread on najasat is accepted. There is no harm if one’s skirt touches some dry najasat when one is prostrating.

If qaba (strong) najasat is not as much as one dirham or more on one’s skin or clothes or on the place of salat, the salat will be accepted. However, if there is as much as a dirham, it is makruh tahrimi and wajib to wash it. If it is more than a dirham, it is fard to wash it. If it is less than a dirham, it is sunnat to wash it. As for wine, it is fard to wash even a drop of it. According to Imam-i Abu Yusuf, Imam-i Muhammad, and the other three madhhabs, it is fard (obligatory) to wash even a mote of any qaba najasat completely. In the Maliki Madhhab, there are two reports. According to the first one, it is fard to clean even a mote of najasat. According to the second one, cleaning najasat is sunnat. Najasat is measured according to how much najasat is on a person when one starts to perform salat, not when one is smeared with it.

A dirham is a weight of one mithqal, that is, 4 grams and 80 centigrams, of solid najasat. As for fluid najasat, it is an area as large as the surface of the water in the palm of one’s open hand. When solid najasat less than one mithqal is spread over an area larger than the palm of a hand on one’s clothes, it does not affect salat.

There Are Two Kinds of Najasat:

1. Qaba (Strong) Najasat: All things that necessitate wudu’ or ghusl when they issue from the human body; flayed but not tanned skin, flesh, excrement, and urine of those animals whose flesh is unlawful for consumption [except a bat] and of their young; blood of humans and of all animals; wine, carrion (an animal that dies by itself), pork, excrement of domestic fowls, excrement of pack animals, of sheep, and of goats are strong najasat.

2. Khafif (Light) Najasat: If light najasat falls on an organ or any part of a garment, it does not affect the validity of salat if it covers one-fourth of that part of the garment or organ. The urine of edible quadruped animals and the excrement of those birds whose flesh is not edible are light. The excrement of such edible birds as pigeons and sparrows is clean. Rakia and spirit, which are produced by distillation of wine, are strong najasat, and, like wine, it is haram to drink them. Blood, spirit, and alcoholic drinks that are on one’s skin or clothes must be washed off before salat. The skin and clothes are not considered clean when such impure things evaporate. If one has a bottle containing such liquids in one’s pocket, one must take it out of one’s pocket before salat.

Question: What are the rulings of the four madhhabs regarding najasat?
ANSWER
Even a small amount of najasat affects the validity of salat according to the madhhabs of Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali. There must be no najasat, be it little, on one’s body, clothes, and the place of salat. According to the Hanafi Madhhab, it is makruh to perform salat with little najasat. According to a report in the Maliki Madhhab, najasat does not affect salat, even if it is much.

Mani (semen), madhi (released when one is aroused), and wadi (released after urination) are strong najasat according to the Hanafi Madhhab and Maliki Madhhab. All of them are clean according to the Hanbali Madhhab. However, only mani is clean according to the Shafi’i Madhhab.

Question: Does palm-size amount for liquid najasat equal the size of the surface of the water that is on the concavity of the palm?
ANSWER
Yes, it does.

Question: If fluid najasat is scattered over many places of the body and clothes, is what affects the validity of salat the total when all of it is gathered together or the amount of najasat on each individual location?
ANSWER
What matters is the total when all of it is gathered together. (Se’adet-i Ebediyye)

Question: Is it permissible to perform salat in a church, a public bath, or a place that is likely to be impure (najis)?
ANSWER
It is makruh to perform salat toward a grave and excrement that is not covered. Similarly, it is makruh to offer salat at places that are likely to be impure (najis), such as in a public bath or church. However, it is not makruh to offer it after cleaning and washing such places. In case one cannot find another place, it is permissible to offer salat in a church. One must leave it immediately after salat because a church is a place where devils meet together. If one purges a church of the symbols of disbelief, it will not be makruh to perform salat there. (Radd-ul-mukhtar)

Question: Is it permissible to perform salat toward a wall whose paint contains impure (najis) substance?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.

Question: My underpants are soiled with the wetness left on my private parts after istinja. Is it necessary to wash my underpants? What is the ruling of the Shafi’i Madhhab regarding this?
ANSWER
The leftovers of the water on one’s skin after one cleans oneself in the toilet are considered clean, which do not affect salat. The ruling is the same in the Shafi’i Madhhab, too. If any stool is left after one completes istinja (washing the intimate areas), it is forgivable according to the Shafi’i Madhhab. Though the presence of a tiny amount of impurity affects the validity of salat in the Shafi’i Madhhab, the feces left after istinja is forgiven.

It is mustahab to wipe the private parts dry after istinja. If there is not a piece of cloth or toilet paper available, one should wipe them dry with one’s hand.

Question: Is it permissible to perform salat in underpants on which there are semen stains?
ANSWER
If one’s underpants are soiled with a small amount of semen, it does not affect salat. If it is dry, the underpants will become clean if it is scratched off.

Question: Is the ruling of the Hanbali Madhhab regarding najasat the same as that of the Shafi’i Madhhab?
ANSWER
Yes, its ruling is the same as the ruling of the Shafi’i Madhhab. Even a tiny amount of najasat affects the validity of salat. According to the Maliki Madhhab, the presence of najasat is pardoned, even if it is much. If one [who follows a madhhab other than the Maliki Madhhab] has utter difficulty in cleaning najasat, one can follow the ruling of the Maliki Madhhab.

Question: Suppose that a person follows the ruling of the Maliki Madhhab regarding najasat because of hemorrhoids. Is it permissible for him to perform salat while they are oozing blood or when his clothes are soiled with much blood?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible because cleaning them is difficult.

Question: If drops of urine get onto my clothes in the toilet without me noticing them, is my wudu’ considered valid?
ANSWER
Urine does not affect wudu’. The presence of much urine affects the validity of salat. If one follows the ruling of the Maliki Madhhab regarding najasat, the presence of urine, be it much, will not affect one’s salat.

Question: It is not permissible to perform salat in clothes soiled with urine or blood. Is it not permissible to wear such clothes outside salat, either?
ANSWER
Wearing impure clothes outside salat is makruh unless there is a strong necessity to do so.

Question: Is it permissible to paint a wall with oil paint containing alcohol? Is it permissible to perform salat toward this wall?
ANSWER
It is permissible, and one can perform salat toward it. One cannot perform salat toward excrement, but it is permissible to perform salat toward something containing impurity.

Question: How much qaba (strong) najasat affects the validity of salat?
ANSWER
If qaba (strong) najasat is as much as one dirham [4.8 grams] on one’s skin, clothes, or the place of salat, it makes one’s salat makruh tahrimi, and it is wajib to wash it. As for fluid najasat, it is an area as large as the surface of the water in the palm of one’s open hand. If fluid najasat reaches more than this amount or if there is solid najasat more than a dirham, it is fard (obligatory) to wash it. With regard to wine stains, it is fard (obligatory) to wash even a drop of wine.