1. Waters Permissible for Purification The waters with which ritual purification is valid are seven:
نور الإيضاح ونجاة الأرواح
The light of clarification and the survival of souls
by Hassan bin Ammar bin Ali Al-Sharnabali
Nur al-Idah wa Najat al-Arwah (meaning "The Light of Clarification and the Salvation of Souls") is a classical, foundational manual of Hanafi jurisprudence (fiqh) written by the early 17th-century Egyptian-Ottoman scholar Imam Hasan ibn Ammar al-Shurunbulali (d. 1069 AH).
Chapter 1 of 103
[Water]
[المياه]
• Rainwater
• Seawater
• River water
• Well water
• Melted snow
• Hailwater
• Spring water
2. Categories of Water Water falls into five categories:
(1) Pure and purifying, without dislikedness: this is absolute water (al-ma' al-mutlaq).
(2) Pure and purifying, but disliked (makruh): water from which a cat or similar animal has drunk, when in small quantity.
(3) Pure but not purifying: water used to remove a ritual impurity, or for something approaching it, such as making ablution upon a previous ablution with that intention.
(4) Impure (najis): water contaminated by a filth that alters one of its qualities: taste, colour, or smell.
(5) Water of uncertain ruling: such as water over which scholars differ.
3. When Does Water Become Used? Water becomes used (musta'mal) the moment it separates from the body.
4. Waters Impermissible for Ablution Ablution is not valid with:
• The sap of trees and fruit, even if it flows out naturally without pressing, according to the sounder opinion.
• Water whose natural character has been altered: by cooking, or by the predominance of another substance mixed into it.