Categories of Water: Three or Two
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: Some scholars stated that water is divided into three types, while others held that it is two. We ask you to mention the evidence for each position along with the stronger opinion. May Allah reward you.
Answer:
The correct view is that of those who said it is two categories: purifying (tahur) and impure (najis). As for "pure" (tahir), this is not a known category except for added water. Pure water that has something added to it, such as rose water, apple water, or grape water, and the like. As for absolute water, it is of two types: purifying, such as water from rivers, seas, wells, and rain, and the like; and the second type is impure, which is water that has been mixed with impurity and altered by it.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
This questioner says: Some scholars stated that water is divided into three types, while others held that it is two. We ask you to mention the evidence for each position along with the stronger opinion. May Allah reward you.
Answer:
The correct view is that of those who said it is two categories: purifying (tahur) and impure (najis). As for "pure" (tahir), this is not a known category except for added water. Pure water that has something added to it, such as rose water, apple water, or grape water, and the like. As for absolute water, it is of two types: purifying, such as water from rivers, seas, wells, and rain, and the like; and the second type is impure, which is water that has been mixed with impurity and altered by it.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
فتاوى الحج ١٤١٠ هـ - ١٤ — archive.org (54:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.