The Purity of Water Left Over by Animals

The disagreement

• The scholars agreed on the purity of the leftover water of livestock, and on the purity of the leftover water of animals whose meat is permissible to eat
• They disagreed on the purity of animal leftovers—referring to the remaining water or food in a vessel after an animal drinks or eats from it

The opinions

• All leftover water of animals is pure:
• Held by: Mālik (mashhur / famous view).
• All leftover water is pure except that of the dog and the pig:
• Held by: al-Shāfiʿī.
• Leftovers follow the status of the meat; if the meat is forbidden, the leftovers are impure (najis), and if the meat is permissible, the leftovers are pure:
• Held by: Abū Ḥanīfah and Aḥmad.

Reason for the disagreement

• The conflict between analogy (al-qiyas) and the apparent text of the Qur'an and prophetic reports

Evidence

First opinion

• Analogy (al-Qiyas): Since death without ritual slaughter is legally the cause of impurity of an animal's physical essence, life must be the cause of the purity of its essence. Whatever is pure in essence, its leftover water is pure.
• The Hadith regarding water basins: He ﷺ was asked about the water basins between Mecca and Medina frequented by dogs and predatory beasts, so he said:

«لَهَا مَا حَمَلَتْ فِي بُطُونِهَا وَلَكُمْ مَا غَبَرَ شَرَاباً وَطَهُوراً»

"For them is what they carried in their bellies, and for you is what remains as a drink and a means of purification." ([Reported by: //-Ibn Mājah, al-Bayhaqī, al-Dāraqunī; and more than one scholar weakened it).

• The Hadith of Abū Qatādah ﷺ regarding the cat:

«إِنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ بِنَجَسٍ إِنَّمَا هِيَ مِنَ الطَّوَّافِينَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَالطَّوَّافَاتِ»

"It is not impure; it is only one of those [creatures] who circle around you." ([Reported by: Ahmad, al-Nasāī, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, Abū Dāwūd; and authenticated by more than one scholar).

• The verse regarding hunting dogs:

﴿فَكُلُوا مِمَّا أَمْسَكْنَ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾

"So eat of what they catch for you"

. If its saliva were impure, the caught game would become impure by its contact.

Second opinion

• The verse regarding swine:

﴿أَوْ لَحْمَ خِنزِيرٍ فَإِنَّهُ رِجْسٌ﴾

"or the flesh of swine - for indeed, it is impure" (Al-Anām:145).

Whatever is impure in its essence, its leftover water is impure.

• The Hadith of Abū Hurayrah ﷺ regarding dogs:

«إِذَا وَلَغَ الكَلْبُ فِي إِنَاءِ أَحَدِكُمْ فَلْيُرِقْهُ وَلْيَغْسِلْهُ سَبْعَ مَرَّاتٍ»

"If a dog licks the vessel of one of you, let him spill it and wash it seven times." [Agreed upon).

This is an explicit text on the impurity of the dog's leftover water.

• The Hadith of Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما: He was asked about water and how predatory beasts and animals frequent it, so he said: "If the water reaches two pitchers (القلتين), it does not carry impurity." If their leftover water were pure, the water would not have been defined by large quantity to negate impurity from it.

Third opinion

• The Hadith of Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه regarding cats:

«طَهُورُ الإِنَاءِ إِذَا وَلَغَ فِيهِ الهر أَنْ يَغْسِلَهُ مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ»

"The purification of the vessel if a cat licks it is to wash it once or twice." ([Reported by: al-Tirmidhī, al-Dāraqunī, al-ākim;).

• The implicit legal understanding (المفهوم النص): The underlying reason behind the texts pointing to the impurity of the leftovers of predatory beasts, cats, and dogs is the prohibition of eating their meat. This is a specific expression intended to have a general implication. Thus, the purity of leftover water is structurally dependent on the purity of the meat or the essence of the animal.

References

Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid (1/56), Badā’iʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ (1/372), Tabyin al-Haqa'iq (1/104), al-Tafri' (1/214), al-Maʿūnah (1/66), Nihayat al-Matlab (1/247), al-Majmūʿ (1/171), al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr (2/277), al-Mughnī (1/64), Sharḥ Ibn Zāḥim (1/173).