3 - Issue: He said: (And one may not perform ablution with water that has already been used for ablution (1)).
This means: the water separated from the limbs of the person performing ablution, and the water from bathing (ghusl) is in the same category. The manifest position of the school (Madhab) is that water used for removing a state of ritual impurity is pure (tahir) but not purifying (mutahhir); it does not remove a state of ritual impurity, nor does it remove filth (najasah). This is the view held by al-Layth (2), al-Awza'i, the well-known position from Abu Hanifah, one of the two narrations from Malik, and the manifest position of the Shafi'i school.
There is another narration from Ahmad that it is pure and purifying (tahir mutahhir). This is the view held by al-Hasan, 'Ata' (3), al-Nakha'i, al-Zuhri, Makhul (4), the Zahiris, the second narration from Malik, and the second view of the Shafi'i school.
It is narrated from 'Ali, Ibn 'Umar, and Abu Umamah regarding one who forgot to wipe his head: if he found moisture in his beard, it would suffice him to wipe his head with that moisture. The basis for this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Water does not become ritually impure (junub) (5)," and he said: "Water does not have ritual impurity upon it." It is also narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) performed ghusl for major ritual impurity, and he saw a small spot that the water had not reached, so he squeezed his hair over it. Both were recorded by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (6), Ibn Majah (7), and others. This is because a pure area was washed with it, and thus its purifying nature is not removed, just as if a garment were washed with it. Furthermore, it has come into contact with a pure area, so it does not exit
(1) In MS [M]: "wuda'i". (2) Abu al-Harith al-Layth ibn Sa'd al-Fahmi, the Shaykh of the Egyptian lands and its scholar, the reliable, authoritative Imam, who died in the year 175 AH. Wafayat al-A'yan 4/127-128; al-'Ibar 1/266-267. (3) Abu Muhammad 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah, one of the Tabi'in jurists in Mecca, and one of their most eminent; he died in the year 114 or 115 AH. Tabaqat al-Fuqaha' 69; al-'Ibar 1/141-142. (4) Abu 'Abd Allah Makhul ibn 'Abd Allah al-Hudhali, their mawla, the Shami, the Hafiz, the jurist of the Levant in his era. There is disagreement regarding his death, cited variously between the years 112, 113, 114, 116, and 118 AH. Tabaqat al-Fuqaha' by al-Shirazi 75; Wafayat al-A'yan 5/280-283; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz 1/107-108. (5) Recorded by Abu Dawud, in the Chapter on Water Not Becoming Impure, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/17. And al-Tirmidhi, in: The Chapter on the Concession Regarding the Leftover Purifying Water of a Woman, from the Chapters of Purification. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 1/82. And Ibn Majah, in: The Chapter on the Concession Regarding the Leftover Purifying Water of a Woman, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/132. (6) The first is in 6/330; for the second, see: Al-Fath al-Rabbani 2/138. (7) The second was recorded in: The Chapter on One Who Performs Ghusl for Major Ritual Impurity and Remains on His Body a Spot That Water Did Not Reach, and How He Should Act, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/217.
