Najis

In Islamic law, najis (Arabic: نجس‎) means ritually unclean.[1] According to Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis.

Part of Islamic hygienical jurisprudence.
Part of a series on
Islamic jurisprudence
(fiqh)
Hygiene
Dietary
Islamic studies
Main article: Ritual purity in Islam

Contact with najis things brings a Muslim into a state of ritual impurity (Arabic: نجاسة‎ najāsa, in opposition to ṭahārah, ritual purity). Ritual purification is then required before religious duties such as regular prayers are performed.

Islamic law

According to the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, as systematised by Al-Nawawi in his book Minhadj, the following things are najis: wine and other spirituous drinks, dogs, swine, dead animals that were not ritually slaughtered, blood, excrements, and the milk of animals whose meat Muslims are not allowed to eat. Spirituous drinks are not impure according to the Hanafi school, while living swine and dogs are not impure according to the Malikis.[1] There is a difference of opinion as to whether alcoholic drinks are najis.[2]

To the list of impure things enumerated by al-Nawawi, Shi’a jurists traditionally add dead bodies and non-believers.[1][3]

Additionally, meat of any animal which is killed in a manner other than that prescribed by Islam is najis.

Najis things cannot be purified, in contrast to things which are defiled only (mutanajis), with the exception of wine, which becomes pure when made into vinegar, and of hides, which are purified by tanning.[1]

Muṭahhirāt ('purifying agents')

It is possible to purify a thing which has become najis. These muṭahhirāt agents that can purify najis can be divided into three groups:

Nature

The Qur'an says: “He [Allah] is the one who sends the winds as good news before His mercy; and We send down pure water from the cloud." (25:48) According to the shari'ah, water can be of two types: muṭlaq and muḍāf. Muṭlaq is pure water without putting it to a scientific test. The five forms of muṭlaq are the following: rain, well water, running or flowing water (river or stream), kur water (lake, sea or ocean), and less than kur. Muḍāf is diluted water

Physical change
  • istiḥālah (chemical change)
  • inqilāb (change in properties)
  • intiqāl (change in place)
  • zawāl li-ʿayni n-najāsah (disappearance of the source of najāsah)
  • istibrāʾ (quarantining)

Spiritual change
  • Islam
  • tabaʿīyyah (following)
  • ghaybat al-muslim (absence of a Muslim)

Not all of these agents can purify every najis. However, among the agents water is the most universal purifying agent while the other agents are limited.

Sources of law

The notions of ritual impurity come mainly from the Qur'an and ahadith. Swine and blood are declared forbidden food in the Qur'an.

gollark: Anti-laser lasers would be quite a fun feature to add to plethora.
gollark: Most of my laser-using programs just go for the simple but naive solution of firing toward the current position of whatever's being targeted.
gollark: Huh. That is much more advanced than my brief attempt at improved laser targeting, which just got the target's current position, figured out how long it would take for the laser to reach that, then added that times its velocity to the target position.
gollark: Sadly, for cost and claims-weirdness reasons they are no longer deployed in Keansia.
gollark: I once made traffic lights which shot anything moving too fast with lasers, but didn't exempt lasers from being lased, that was fun.

See also

References
  1. Weinsinck, A.J. "Nadjis". In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912.
  2. "Intoxicants - Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  3. Lewis (1984), p.34
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.