by being the provision of our brothers among the jinn, and our own provision, given its greater sanctity, is more deserving of being excluded. If it were said: Yet he forbade performing istinja' with the right hand, just as he forbade it here, and that did not prevent sufficiency in that case, so too here. We reply: It has been clarified in the hadith that they do not purify. Furthermore, the difference between the two is that the prohibition here relates to a meaning concerning the condition of the act, thus it prevents its validity, like the prohibition of performing wudu' with impure water. Whereas there, it relates to a meaning concerning the instrument of the condition, thus it does not prevent it, like performing wudu' from a forbidden vessel.

Section: It is not permissible to perform istinja' with something that possesses sanctity, such as anything on which jurisprudence or the hadith of the Messenger of Allah -may Allah bless him and grant him peace- has been written, due to the violation of the Shari'ah and the belittling of its sanctity contained therein; for in terms of sanctity, it is greater than dung and decaying bones. It is not permissible to use that which is attached to an animal, such as its hand, its heel, the tail of a beast, or its wool attached to it. Some of our companions said: The object used for istijmar must combine six characteristics: that it be pure, solid, cleansing, not edible, possessing no sanctity, and not attached to an animal.

40 - Issue: He said: (And a large stone that has three prongs takes the place of three stones).

This is the opinion of al-Shafi'i, Ishaq, and Abu Thawr. There is another narration from Ahmad: it is not sufficient unless there are at least three stones. This is the opinion of Abu Bakr ibn al-Mundhir, based on his statement, peace be upon him: "None of you should perform istinja' with fewer than three stones," and "It is not sufficient for any of you to have fewer than three stones." And because when one performs istijmar with a stone, it becomes impure, so it is not permissible to perform istijmar with it a second time, just like a small one. Our position is that if he performs istijmar three times with a cleansing object that meets the conditions of istijmar, it is sufficient, just as if he had separated it into three small ones and performed istijmar with them, as there is no difference between the original and the branch except for its separation, and that has no effect on purification. The hadith requires three wipes with a stone, not the individual stones themselves, as one says: "I struck him with three lashes," meaning three blows with a lash. This is because its meaning is rational and its intent is known; that is why we did not restrict it to the literal wording in cases other than stones; rather, we permitted wood.