Pages

Sunday, 27 January 2013

VISIBLE UNCLEANNESS AND HOW TO CLEANSE IT



MORE ABOUT VISIBLE UNCLEANNESS AND HOW TO CLEANSE IT.

Q.   How to cleanse the leather articles such as socks, shoes, hold-alls etc., if some filthy substance has smeared them?
*  They become clean by being rubbed against the earth or any such thing provided its impression on the item concerned is fully rubbed off.

Q.   How to cleanse these articles if filth like urine, wine, etc., defiles them?
*  These will be cleansed only if washed with a liquid substance like water so as to remove all traces of uncleanness. That is to say, any kind of uncleanness except  the filthy substance itself that smears the leather article, will be cleansed only if washed and in no other way.

Q.   Can the articles such as knife or sword made of metals like iron, silver, copper or aluminium be cleansed without washing?
*  Articles of metal like iron (which is free from rust) of silver, gold, copper, aluminium or brass and those of glass, ivory, bone and porcelain if they are clean and have no engravings on them can be cleansed by rubbing off the traces of filth and its impressions altogether.

Q.   What do we mean by a certain thing being without engravings?
*  Engravings are marks that give an uneven surface to an object. They need special provision because filth is still possible to lurk in rubbed off. They however, become clean by rubbing them if they contain only colour paint and no engravings.

Q.   How to cleanse the soil that has got defiled with urine and wine, etc.?
*  Uncleanness automatically vanishes once the ground dries up and effects of uncleanness (such as colour, smell and taste) disappear.

Q.   How to cleanse uncleanness that smears the baked bricks or stones of the pavement of a house or mosque or those of a wall?
*  The bricks or stones of a building if unclean, will become clean if traces of uncleanness disappear.

Q.   How to wash articles like brass vessels or thick cushions which cannot be wringed?
*  The method to be followed in cleansing articles that are difficult or impossible to wring is as follows: wash them once and leave them. When water stops dripping, give them a second wash and leave them. Wash them the third time after dripping of water as a result of the second wash has stopped and they will become clean. But it is necessary to rub them as much as possible so that maximum possible efforts have been spent in cleansing them.

Q.   Can unclean clay vessels be cleansed?
*  Clay vessels can also be cleansed. The method described above will hold good for them also.

Q.   Is the ashes of an unclean substance such as dung clean or unclean?
*  When an unclean substance has been burnt to ashes, it become clean.

Q.   What should we do if a rat fails into ghee (a kind of butter) and dies?
*  If the ghee is frozen throe out the rat and the ghee just around it. The rest of the ghee is clean. If the ghee is in the melted form the entire ghee will be unclean.

Q.   How to cleanse the unclean ghee or oil?
*  Put into unclean ghee or oil an equal quantity of water and boil the two together. Then take out the ghee or oil that floats on the surface. Do it thrice and the ghee or oil will become clean and usable.

Sunday, 20 January 2013

MASAH ON SOCKS



MORE ABOUT MAS-HA ON SOCKS

Q.   When should we start reckoning the stipulated permissible duration for wiping the socks?
*  The permissible duration for the purpose should be calculated from the moment the ablution gets nullified. From that time onward Mas-ha is allowed on socks for a day and night or for three days and three nights as the case may be. For example, if one puts on the socks in the morning of Friday and breaks his ablution after time for dhuhr prayer is over, if he is a Muqmim (on station), he is allowed to continue to wipe his socks until dhuhr prayer on Saturday. Musafir (a person on journey), on the other hand, can continue to wipe the socks until dhuhr on Monday.

Q.   What are the things that invalidate Mas-ha?
*  Acts that nullify the ablution also break Mas-ha. Apart from that the Mas-ha gets broken as soon as the stipulated permissible period for Mas-ha is over. It also breaks if the socks are taken off or the socks get torn making a hole as big as the width of three toes.

Q.   What will be the position if the socks are taken off while the ablution is still intact or the duration for the validity of Mas-ha is over?
*  Under both these situation it is enough to wash the feet and put on the socks. It is, however, desirable (Mustahab) to do the ablution afresh.

Q.   What should a person on journey do if he returns home only one day and night after he undertook the Mas-ha on socks?
*  He should take off the and start with a new ablution and a fresh Mas-ha.

Q.   What should a person on-station do if he starts on journey after he undertook his Mas-ha at home?
*  If he starts on journey before a day and night is over he may keep the socks on and continue doing the Mas-ha for three days and three nights. If, however, he starts on his journey after the completion of one day and night he must put off the socks and begin with a fresh Mas-ha.

Q.   What will be the position if the socks are torn a little at several places?
*  We must see whether the combined circumference of the tear is equal to three toes in width. If so, Mas-ha is not allowed to be made. If it is less, Mas-ha is allowed. If, however, only the combined tear of the two socks is equal to the width of three toes while the tear of each individual sock is less than that, the Mas-ha is allowed to be done.

MORE ABOUT BATH



MORE ABOUT BATH

Q.   How many kinds of bath are there?
*  There are three kinds of bath:
1.      Commanded (Fard);
2.      Prophet’s Precept (Masnun);
3.      Desirable (Mustahab).

Q.   How many categories of Bath are Fard?
*  They are six in number. These will be discussed elsewhere in the book.

Q.   Which baths are Masnun? Name them.
*  There are four of them, namely:
1.      Bath for Friday prayers;
2.      Bath for the prayers of the two ‘Ids;
3.      Bath before putting on Ihram (cloth specially worn by Hajj pilgrims); and
4.      Bath before staying at ‘Arafat.

Q.   Which baths are Mustahab?
*  Quite a few baths are Mustahab. Some of them are as follows:
1.      Bath on the fifteenth of the month of Sha’ban;
2.      Bath in the night of ‘arafa i.e., in the night following the evening of the 8th of zulhijjah;
3.      Bath for the Salat of the solar and lunar eclipse;
4.      Bath for the Salat-ul-Istisqa (prayers for the rains);
5.      Bath before entry into the holy cities of Makka and Madina;
6.      Bath by a person who has given bath to a dead body;
7.      Bath by an unbeliever after he has embraced Islam.

Q.   A person from whom bath is due dives into the river or stands in the rain so that water flows down his whole body, will the bath be deemed to have been performed by him?
*  Yes, provided he also rinses his mouth and passes water into his nostrils.

Q.   Is it permissible to face Qiblah during bath?
*  Facing the Qiblah when one id naked is forbidden. If, however, the parts of the body commanded to be covered are duly covered, there is no harm in it.

Q.   How is it to bathe with the Satr uncovered?
*  Bathing in the bathroom or at any other secluded place with no one to see one’s Satr is permissible.

Q.   What are the undesirable acts (Makruhat) in bath?
*  These are the following:
1.      Wasteful use of water in bath;
2.      Talking during the bath with the Satr uncovered;
3.      Facing Qiblah;
4.      Bathing against the Precepts of the holy Prophet.

Q.   Is ablution necessary for Salat in addition to bath if ablution was not done before bathing?
*  Bath embarrasses ablution as well. As such no ablution is necessary after bath.