بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Physical Impurities (Haqiqi)

Physical (haqiqi) impurities are substances considered impure by the Shari’ah. In other words, all things and substances are pure, unless the shari'ah says otherwise.

The basic ruling with regard to all substances is that they are pure, unless there is an evidence from the shari'ah pointing otherwise.

Three common sources of physical impurities.

Common types of impurities

1. Coming out of the human body:

poo
urine
pus
vomit
sperm
semenal discharge
blood that flows from a wound

2. Coming from animals or birds:

Blood that flows from an animal
The excrement of all animals
The droppings of all birds that can't fly
The flesh of dead animals and birds not slaughtered properly
The urine, milk and meat of animals whose meat is forbiden to consume
The sweat and saliva of dogs and pigs
The leather items made from from the skin of a pig
Droppings of birds that can fly but are considered forbiden to eat (weak impurity)

3. Alcohol related:

Wine made from grapes or dates
Other types of alcohol made for consumption
Synthetic alcohol (some scholars consider it pure)

For the prayer to be valid, one's body, cloth and place of prayer have to be clean from these physical impurities. In the next article, we'll look into how to remove them.