The ruling on irrigating farms with sewage water and using manure as fertilizer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, some farms and gardens are irrigated with water that has been treated, but it is sewage water. Is it permissible to pray on the land of these gardens and farms that are irrigated with sewage water? And is it permissible to use human waste or excrement as fertilizer for plants, because we observe that some farms use this waste?
Answer:
If this water carries the smell of impurity, or if traces of impurity are present in it, then it is not permissible to irrigate trees and farms with it, nor is it permissible to pray in a place that this water reaches as long as the smell of impurity is present in it, or the substance of the impurity, the substance of the impurity is present in the water, or its smell, or its color is the color of impurity, then it is not permissible for them. Because the impurity is present, one does not pray in it, and one does not irrigate with it the trees intended for fruit, from which fruit is taken, such as edible vegetables, date palms that have dates, and the like. They are not irrigated with impure water.
As for if this water is pure, has been treated, and has become pure, with no smell of impurity, no color of impurity, and no substance of impurity, then there is no harm in that, because it has transformed into pure water; the impurity was removed from it and isolated from it, so it returned to its original state. There is no objection to that. Or if this water passed through the soil and flowed through the underground, and the smell of impurity and the traces of impurity left it until it became pure, then there is no objection to that. The important thing is that it does not have the signs of impurity. It is free from the signs of impurity and has returned to what it was, either by treatment, or by long duration and passage through the earth, or otherwise. Yes, it is exempt from the prohibition. However, some jurists said that if a place is paved with a mat or plastered with pure material, prayer is permissible with dislike; it is permissible with dislike.
As for the rest of the question, which is whether it is permissible to fertilize trees with manure? This is not permissible. Do not fertilize trees with impure fertilizer, whether it is from humans or non-humans. Impure fertilizer is not permissible according to the majority of scholars. It is not permissible to fertilize with impure substances. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, some farms and gardens are irrigated with water that has been treated, but it is sewage water. Is it permissible to pray on the land of these gardens and farms that are irrigated with sewage water? And is it permissible to use human waste or excrement as fertilizer for plants, because we observe that some farms use this waste?
Answer:
If this water carries the smell of impurity, or if traces of impurity are present in it, then it is not permissible to irrigate trees and farms with it, nor is it permissible to pray in a place that this water reaches as long as the smell of impurity is present in it, or the substance of the impurity, the substance of the impurity is present in the water, or its smell, or its color is the color of impurity, then it is not permissible for them. Because the impurity is present, one does not pray in it, and one does not irrigate with it the trees intended for fruit, from which fruit is taken, such as edible vegetables, date palms that have dates, and the like. They are not irrigated with impure water.
As for if this water is pure, has been treated, and has become pure, with no smell of impurity, no color of impurity, and no substance of impurity, then there is no harm in that, because it has transformed into pure water; the impurity was removed from it and isolated from it, so it returned to its original state. There is no objection to that. Or if this water passed through the soil and flowed through the underground, and the smell of impurity and the traces of impurity left it until it became pure, then there is no objection to that. The important thing is that it does not have the signs of impurity. It is free from the signs of impurity and has returned to what it was, either by treatment, or by long duration and passage through the earth, or otherwise. Yes, it is exempt from the prohibition. However, some jurists said that if a place is paved with a mat or plastered with pure material, prayer is permissible with dislike; it is permissible with dislike.
As for the rest of the question, which is whether it is permissible to fertilize trees with manure? This is not permissible. Do not fertilize trees with impure fertilizer, whether it is from humans or non-humans. Impure fertilizer is not permissible according to the majority of scholars. It is not permissible to fertilize with impure substances. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب قضاء الحاجة - 1 — islamhouse.com (35:29)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
