What follows is a presentation of the basic essentials of Hanbali fiqh. Rather than use any one text, I have distilled these rulings from four relied-upon (mu’tamad) primers in the school: Ibn Qudamah’s ‘Umdat al-Fiqh; Ibn Balban’s Akhsar al-Mukhtasarat; al-Qudumi’s al-Ajwibat al-Jaliyyah and al-Hajjawi’s Zad al-Mustaqni‘.
The plan, God-willing, is to serialise these fiqh essentials over the coming weeks and months; commencing with purification.
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OUTLINE: Purification is the “key to prayer” and a precondition for its performance. Though it is not itself one of the pillars (arkan) of the religion, purification as a juristic matter occupies a significant position, attested to by the fact that its treatment in the fiqh literature occupies space roughly equal to that of each of the four pillars: namely prayer, zakat, fasting and pilgrimage. The topic of purification not only discusses the body and bodily secretions, it also extends to clothing, the place intended for prayer, the water used for washing, utensils and containers, as well as the types of impurities.
PURIFICATION (taharah): Lexically, it means: cleanliness from filth. Legally it means: lifting the state of ritual impurity (hadath) or whatever is similar to it, and the removal of physical impurities (najasat).
PUBERTY (bulugh): The signs of puberty are three: (i) The completion of fifteen lunar years for a male or female. (ii) Nocturnal emission (or ‘wet dream’) for both males or females from the age of nine. (iii) Menstruation for a female starting from the age of nine. Puberty commences with any one of the three signs.
TYPES OF WATER (aqsam al-miya): Water is of three types: (i) tahur – both pure and purifying; which is water that remains upon its natural state; (ii) tahir – pure, but not purifying; water whose colour, taste or smell has been altered by being mixed with a pure substance, (iii) najas – impure; water that has had any one of its three properties (colour, taste or odour) altered by an impure substance.
IMPURITIES (najasat): Impurities refer to impure substances which one must avoid or wash-off if they should happen to contaminate one’s clothes, body, etc. They are:
(i) Carrion (flesh of the dead) – except for humans; locusts; the dead from the sea; and creatures with no running blood like bees, ants, etc. (ii) Blood that flows forth, such as from a slaughtered animal or menstral bleeding; though a tiny amount is overlooked. (iii) Pigs. (iv) Dogs. (v) Human urine; excrement; vomit; puss; and blood – except that a tiny amount of vomit, puss or blood is overlooked in prayer. (vi) Prostatic fluid (madhi) discharged when one is sexually aroused; and wadi – a thick white liquid secreted by some after urination; but not mani: sperm. (vii) Intoxicants (khamr) – liquid and solid like alcohol or cocane. (viii) Animals or birds that cannot be legally eaten and that are larger in size than a cat; as are their leftovers. (ix) Animals that are lawful to consume but the majority of whose feed is impure – their urine, dung and milk are considered impure. (x) Flesh, or bones, cut-off from a living creature, such as a foreleg of a living, unslaughtered sheep. (xi) Hides of unlawfully slaughtered animals, as well as those of dead animals that have not been slaughtered, even if they have been tanned.
REMOVING IMPURITIES (izalat al-najasat): Impurities can be removed by washing, wiping, sprinkling or scrubbing with water. Any vessel or utensil a dog licks must be washed seven times, the first time with earth.
LAVATORY MANNERS (adab al-khala’): It is recommended (mustahabb) to enter the toilet with one’s left foot and exit with one’s right foot; and before entering, to say: “In the name of Allah. I seek refuge in Allah from the male and female devils;” and after leaving, to utter: “I seek Your forgiveness. All praise be to Allah who has removed what is harmful from me and kept me healthy;” and be out of sight of others as is practically or reasonably possible.
It is offensive (makruh) to: enter it with something containing Allah’s name except if there is a pressing need (hajah); to talk without a pressing need; to touch one’s private part with the right hand or cleanse oneself with it. If one sneezes or hears the call to prayer, he responds silently in his heart.
It is prohibited (haram) to enter it with the Qur’an, or any portion of it, even if it is in a covering; unless there is a pressing need to do so. It is prohibitted to face the direction of prayer (qiblah) or turn one’s back to it while relieving oneself – if in an open space; or to relieve oneself on pathways or anywhere else that may offend people’s sense of civic sensibility. There is no problem urinating while standing, even when there is no pressing need; provided one can guard against urine splashes and that one’s private part not be exposed to others.
It is obligatory (wajib) to clean whatever exits from the front and rear private parts. To clean oneself with stones or another solid substance (istijmar) and to then use water (istinja), is recommended. It is permissible (ja’iz) to use only one of the two, in which case water is preferable. It is an obligation to use as many stones or the like as needed, but no fewer than three stones, when cleansing oneself from urine or faeces – if one is not using water afterwards.
AlSalamu ‘Alaikum,
Amazing. Thank you Sheikh for this piece. Really beneficial.
Sheikh, looking forward to see posts on other basic Fiqh like Wudu and Salah etc.
Jazakallahu Khairan
Wa alaykum al-salam wa rahmatullah.
I’ve been meaning to put up more fiqh for a while. Inshallah I hope something new will be up early new year.
Barakallahu fikum, Ibn ‘Alee.
Asalamu Alaikum. Shaykh please do consider teaching Hanbali Fiqh in English. No one else has done it before. Not that I know of anyway. There’s a great need for it.
JazakAllah Khair.
Wa alaykum al-salam wa rahmatullah.
I’m pretty sure there are some lessons on a Hanbali fiqh in English floating around the blogosphere somewhere. Nevertheless, after some thought and deliberation, I’ve decided to post a short series of audio lectures in a hanbali fiqh for beginners. I hope to put up the first part by the end of the month inshallah.http://thehumblei.com/2013/03/03/reason-revelation-religion/
Salam Sidi, and thank you very much for this beneficial post. I would like to ask you a question: is “Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi” considered a mu’tamad primer in the hanbali school? And in which sense is it possible, for the muqallid, to follow a madhhab’s opinion which is not mu’tamad (as in the case of some fatawa of Shakh Ibn Taymiyya) when necessary? It means when it is necessary “according to his own (sincere and God-fearing) judgdment” or “according to the judgement of a mufti, after the muqallid has posed him a question about his problem”?
Wa ‘alaykum al-salam wa rahmatullah.
Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi has the distinction of not only being mu’tamad, but of being the first complete and comprehensive fiqh matn in the madhhab too. It was authored by Abu’l-Qasim ‘Umar ibn al-Husayn al-Khiraqi of Baghdad (d.334H). It has over twenty commentaries, the most famous of them being Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi’s magnum opus, al-Mughni fi Sharh Mukhtasar al-Khiraqi.
Now for the second part of your question. If we take the majority position in the Hanbali school, that a layman is not required to follow one madhhab in its entirety, then he can move from one madhhab to another, providing it is not based on desires and seeking unjustified concessions or rukhsahs. This he can do by being convinced of the arguments of another scholar on that particular issue. If he is convinced by it, or inclines to it, he may follow the opinion.
As for following a non-mu’tamad opinion in the madhhab, the layman should avoid this. Why? Because it is not reliable in the madhhab. If, however, a qualified scholar of the school issues it as a fatwa to the layperson, as a valid concession for his circumstance or issue, it can be followed and acted upon.
And Allah knows best.
Jazakallahu kher for your clear anwer, Sidi
Salam ‘alaykum Sidi,
I’ve just subscribed your online course on hanbali fiqh at Ebrahim College. Looking forward to start! 😉
May Allah make it a means for you and I to both draw closer to Him.
When the course starts, please do introduce yourself in person.
As-salaam ‘alaykum Sidi. Unfortunately the Ebrahim College’s hanbali course was cancelled, so I would ask you if you do any hanbali fiqh lessons in London?
I would also ask you some clarification about the text “Ajwibat al-Aliyya” of Shaykh al-Qaddumi, when he talks about the sujud al-sahw: the Shaykh wrote that sujud al-sahw has to be done if “a wajib is left off forgetfully, or HE DOUBTS AN ACT WAS ADDED WHEN PERFORMING IT” (translation by Sidi Joe Bradford). What does it mean? I know from Shaykh al-Fawzan’s “Summary of islamic jurisprudence” that sujud al-sahw for a doubt is done only in two cases: 1) you do not remember how many rakaat did you pray; 2) you are not sure if you mistakenly omitted (not added) a fard (not a wajib). So, can you explain that passage, please?
Also, when I perform sujud al-sahw should I also say “Subhana Rabbiya-l-Ala” and “Rabbi ighfrli” as in the normal sujud of the prayer, and should I also add the Salat al-Ibrahimiyya after the Tashahhud that is to be said after in the sujud al-sahw that is done after the taslim?
Barakallahu fik!
Assalamu alaykum
I don’t think I’ve ever come across your site but the name is absolutely amazing.
Wa alaykum al-salam wa rahmatullah.
May Allah bless you and increase you in goodness. I’m glad you like the name; I hope you like and benefit from the content too.
Your brother,
Surkheel Abu Aaliyah
Assalamu aleykum, I got a question regarding the impurity of non-islamically slaughterd animals. Because it is stated above that tanning does not remove the impurity, but there is a hadith of ibn abbas in which he said: I heard the messenger of Allah sallalahoe alaihi wa sallam say: “when the skin is tanned, it is purified. As a Hanbali muqallid I would like to know how the madhab came to the conclusion that tanning does not purify the hide. Because the shoes that have leather are most probably made from non islamically slaughtered animals. But the shoes are processes to be clean. but as I interpret the hanbali texts, than most if not all leather shoes are najis. I hope you can shed some light. jazaak Allahoe khairan