Impurities and How to Remove Them

What is najis (ritually impure):

- Anything that exits the two paths (urine, feces, blood when from menstruation/postnatal/private parts). - Blood — in flowing or substantial quantity. A small smear is forgiven (more on this below). - Pig and everything from it. - Dead animals (*mayta*) not slaughtered Islamically — except: fish, locusts, animals not requiring slaughter, and parts that don't have life-flow (hair, wool, feathers, claws, beaks). - Wine and intoxicants. - Pus from infected wounds. - Dog saliva — Mālikī position is more lenient than the Shāfiʿī here. Mālikīs hold the dog itself is pure when alive; only its saliva on a vessel requires the seven washings sunna. The vessel is washed and used. - The young of impure animals.

What is NOT najis (common confusions to clear up):

- Saliva, tears, sweat — all pure. - Hair, wool, feathers of pure animals (fallen naturally). - Semen — *pure* in the Mālikī position (and Shāfiʿī), but it requires *ghusl* if it exits. - A dead fish or locust. - Your own blood from a small cut — forgiven below a certain quantity, traditionally compared to a coin's size. - The body of a living dog or cat — fur is not najis when dry. - Baby vomit in small amounts — usually forgiven; if heavy or food-based, clean it.

How to remove najāsa:

1. Remove the substance itself first — wipe, scrape, or rinse. 2. Wash with water until no visible color remains. 3. If smell persists despite washing, keep going. Soap and detergent are fine and helpful, though water is what does the actual purification. 4. Stubborn stain that remains after thorough washing because it has set into the fabric (like blood that won't fully come out): once washed thoroughly, you're excused even if a faint shadow remains.

Specific cases the PDF and Mālikī fiqh address:

- Urine on clothing: wash with water until clean. Mālikī, unlike Shāfiʿī, doesn't make a distinction between male and female infant urine — wash either. - Dog licks a vessel of water: the Prophet ﷺ said *"the purification of one of your vessels, when a dog drinks from it, is to wash it seven times"* (Muslim 279). The Mālikī school treats this seven-washing as sunna for the vessel, not as a sign that dog saliva is more impure than other najāsāt — and they don't add the sand-washing some other schools require. - Blood on clothing: small smears (under a coin's size) are forgiven; larger amounts wash off with water. - A dog brushing against you while you're dry: nothing to clean — fur on a living dog is not najis.