Chapter: Purification (al-Istitabah) and Ritual Impurity (al-Hadath)
Al-Istitabah is seeking purification (istinja') using water or stones. It is said: "istataba" or "ataba" when one performs istinja'. It is called istitabah because one makes their body pure (tayyib) by removing filth (khabath) from it. A poet said, satirizing a man (7):
A vulture resting during the summer upon a heel (8) It hastens the hand of the defiled, purifying one
Al-Istinja' is a derivation from the verb "najawtu" the tree, meaning I cut it; as if he cut off the harm from himself. Ibn Qutaybah said: It is derived from "najwah", which is the elevated part of the land, because one who wishes to relieve themselves seeks shelter behind it. Al-Istijmar is a derivation from "al-jimar", which are small stones, because one uses them for his purification.
35 - Issue; he said: (And there is no obligation of istinja' for one who sleeps or from whom wind has passed.)
We do not know of any disagreement regarding this. Abu ‘Abd Allah said: There is no istinja' for passing wind in the Book of Allah, nor in the Sunnah of His Messenger; rather, one is only required to perform Wudu'. It has been narrated from the Prophet -may Allah bless him and grant him peace- [that he said] (1): "Whoever performs istinja' after passing wind is not one of us." This was narrated by al-Tabarani in his "al-Mu‘jam al-Saghir" (2), and from Zayd ibn Aslam regarding the Almighty's saying: {When you rise to prayer, wash your faces}. When you rise...
(7) The rajaz poem is by al-A‘sha Abu Basir Maymun ibn Qays, satirizing Wa'il ibn Sharhabil ibn ‘Amr ibn Murthid and his people. It is found in his Diwan 265, and Lisan al-‘Arab (kh-r-’, t-y-b, q-y-z, r-kh-m) 1/64, 567, 7/457, 12/235. (8) Al-Rakhmah: A pied bird shaped like a vulture by nature, except that it is mottled with black and white, and it is among those that eat excrement. Its plural is rakham and rukhm. "Qaza" in a place: to stay there during the summer. The narration in the Diwan is: "upon a yankhub." Al-Yankhub: the coward. The narration in the Lisan is: "upon matlub." (9) In the original: "from al-jimar which is najawtu." (1) Missing from M. (2) Missing from the original. We did not find it in al-Saghir following [the discussion of] hadath according to our ability. It is in al-Jami‘ al-Saghir by al-Suyuti 298.
