Table of Contents

Bidayat al-Mujtahid: The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer

THE BOOK OF (RITUAL) PURIFICATION

(TAHARA)

The Muslim jurists agreed that shar^f (legal) purity (tahdra) is of two types: purity from hadath (ritual impurity) and purity from khabath (physical impurity). They also agreed that purity from hadath is of three kinds: ablution (wudiP), bathing (ghusl), and their substitute, ablution with clean earth (tayammum). This is because of their inclusion in the verse of ablution, 25 which dealt with these issues. We shall begin, out of these, with a discussion of ablution. We say:

1.1. THE BOOK OF ABLUTION {WUDt?)

A comprehensive discussion of the principles of this (type of) worship ifibada) is covered in five chapters. Chapter 1 relates to the evidence of its obligation — on whom it is obligatory and when; Chapter 2 is about the identification of its acts; Chapter 3 is about the identification of that with which it is performed, that is, water; Chapter 4 is about the identification of factors nullifying it; and Chapter 5 is about the identification of things with which it can be performed.