His second question asks: What is the ruling on blood that comes out of the human body, whether from the nose or elsewhere? Is it considered ritually impure, such that what it touches of the clothes must be washed, and does it invalidate the ablution? And what is the poured-out blood that we are forbidden to eat?

The questioner : His second question asks: What is the ruling on blood that comes out of the human body, whether from the nose or elsewhere? Is it considered ritually impure, such that what it touches of the clothes must be washed, and does it invalidate the ablution? And what is the poured-out blood that we are forbidden to eat?

The Shaykh : The poured-out blood that we are forbidden to eat is that which comes out of an animal while it is still alive.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : This is like what they used to do in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance; a man, if he were hungry, would cut a vein in his camel and drink its blood. This is what is forbidden. Likewise, the blood that is present at the time of slaughter before the soul departs is the forbidden, ritually impure blood. The evidence from the Qur'an for this is clear in several verses of the Qur'an that it is forbidden. In Surat al-An'am, Allah the Exalted explicitly stated that it is ritually impure: So His saying: refers to the hidden pronoun in His saying: and it is not as some have said: that it refers only to the pig. If you reflect on the verse, you will find that this is the definitive interpretation. That thing means that the thing which was excepted from being lawful is the one that is ritually impure. So the explanation is an explanation of the ruling that encompasses these three matters. This is clear to anyone who reflects on it, and it is not a matter of disagreement regarding whether the pronoun refers to the nearest mentioned item or to all the mentioned items. Rather, this is clear because it is an explanation of a ruling that organizes three matters. This is the poured-out blood. As for the blood that remains in a lawful animal after it has been slaughtered according to the Shari'ah, it is pure, even if a vein bursts after the slaughter. Some veins contain blood after the slaughter and after the soul has departed, such that if you cut them, blood flows from them. This blood is lawful and pure. Likewise, the blood of the liver and the blood of the heart, and what is similar to them, are all lawful and pure. As for the blood that comes out of a human being, if it comes from the two passages, the front or the back, it is ritually impure and invalidates the ablution, whether little or much. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered women to wash menstrual blood absolutely, and this is evidence of its impurity and that a small amount of it is not excused. It is so; it is ritually impure, a small amount of it is not excused, and it invalidates the ablution, whether little or much. As for the blood that comes out of the rest of the body, from the nose, or from a tooth, or from a wound caused by a blade or a glass or what is similar to that, it does not invalidate the ablution, whether little or much. This is the stronger opinion: that nothing coming out of the body other than the two passages invalidates the ablution, whether from the nose, from a tooth, or from elsewhere, and whether it is little or much. As for its impurity, the well-known view among the scholars is that it is ritually impure and that it must be washed, except that a small amount of it is excused due to the difficulty of guarding against it. And Allah knows best.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.