<Article>Observations of Legal Opinions and Hadiths Related to the Matter of Water Used for Ablution

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  • <論文>洗浄用の水をめぐる法学説とハディースについて
  • 洗浄用の水をめぐる法学説とハディースについて
  • センジョウヨウ ノ ミズ オ メグル ホウガクセツ ト ハディース ニ ツイテ

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Abstract

This study seeks to clarify the origin of the statement attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad that "Water does not become impure if it reaches two qullas" and the process of formation and development of hadith clusters that include this statement. A hadith narrated by Aisha, a beloved wife of the Prophet, suggests that this statement meant originally that leftover water that has been used by a sexually impure person (junub) for ablution can be used by another person for ablution if it reaches "two qullas, " that is, about 6 kg. Then, as the rule was established that such water is pure and can be used for ablution regardless of its amount, this statement was put in circulation as an independent hadith. Subsequently, this statement was combined with two hadith clusters. First, Muḥammad b. Isḥāq (d. 151/769) and al-Walīd b. Kathīr (d. 151/768-9), who were born in Medina and moved to Iraq, combined this statement with the hadiths known in Medina, according to which the Prophet or Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb declared it lawful to drink from a watering place visited by predatory beasts and dogs. They seem to have been inspired by the idea generally accepted in Iraq that a small amount of water becomes impure if touched by an impure object whether it looks pure or impure. Second, the Basran traditionist Ḥammād b. Salama (d. 167/784) combined this statement with the hadith put in circulation in Basra, which reads that the Prophet stated that "Nothing renders water impure" when he saw his companions hesitate to drink from a pond in which carcasses had been thrown. Ḥammād seems to have been inspired by the same idea as Muḥammad b. Isḥāq and al-Walīd b. Kathīr. In this process, a qulla was redefined so that it became equal to around 196 kg, that is, thirty times the size of the (smaller) qulla according to its original definition.

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  • 西南アジア研究

    西南アジア研究 85 1-17, 2016-09-30

    The Society for Western and Southern Asiatic Studies, Kyoto University

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