Najis
Encyclopedia
- This is a sub-article to Islamic hygienical jurisprudenceIslamic hygienical jurisprudenceHygiene is a prominent topic in Islam. Islam has always placed a strong emphasis on personal hygiene. Other than the need to be ritually clean in time for the daily prayer through Wudu and Ghusl, there are a large number of other hygiene-related rules governing the lives of Muslims...
.
In Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, najis are things or persons regarded as ritually unclean. According to Shi'a Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis.http://al-islam.org/laws/najisthings.html
Contact with najis things brings a Muslim into a state of ritual impurity (najasat), which requires undergoing purification before performing religious duties, such as regular prayers.
Islamic law
According to the Shafi'iShafi'i
The Shafi'i madhhab is one of the schools of fiqh, or religious law, within the Sunni branch of Islam. The Shafi'i school of fiqh is named after Imām ash-Shafi'i.-Principles:...
school
Madhhab
is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
, as systematised by al-Nawawi
Nawawi
The Arabic nisbah Al-Nawawi denotes an origin from Nawa, Syria.Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi was a Sunni Muslim author on Fiqh and hadith.Nawawi may also refer to:* Aznil Nawawi, Malaysian actor...
in his book Minhadj, the following things are najis: wine and other spirituous drinks, dogs, swine, dead animals that were not ritually slaughtered, blood, excrements, and milk of animals whose meat Muslims are not allowed to eat. Spirituous drinks are not impure according to the Hanafi
Hanafi
The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...
school, while living swine and dogs are not impure according to the Maliki
Maliki
The ' madhhab is one of the schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the second-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 25% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and in some parts of Saudi Arabia...
s.
To the list of impure things enumerated by al-Nawawi, Shi’a jurists traditionally add dead bodies and non-believers.
Additionally, any meat of animal which is killed in a manner other than that prescribed by Islam is najis.
Najis things cannot be purified, in contrast to things which are defiled only (mutanajis), with the exception of wine, which becomes pure when made into vinegar, and of hides, which are purified by tanning.
Sources of law
The notions of ritual impurity come mainly from the Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
. Swine and blood are declared forbidden food in the Qur'an .
See also
- GhuslGhuslGhusl is an Arabic term referring to the full ablution required in Islam for various rituals and prayers. The ablution becomes mandatory for any adult Muslim after having sexual intercourse, any sexual discharge , completion of the menstrual cycle, giving birth, and death by natural causes.Islam...
- TahirTahirIn Islamic context, Tahir refers to purity and cleanliness in accordance with religious rituals. It is also a name in several Islamic cultures.-Given name:*Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Pakistani Ahmadi...
- Ritual purificationRitual purificationRitual purification is a feature of many religions. The aim of these rituals is to remove specifically defined uncleanliness prior to a particular type of activity, and especially prior to the worship of a deity...
- Taharah
- WuduWuduWuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...
- DhimmiDhimmiA , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
- KafirKafirKafir is an Arabic term used in a Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as "unbeliever" or "disbeliever"...