Discussion on the meaning of the impurity of polytheists.

The Shaykh : Since Allah (Mighty and Majestic) explicitly stated in the Noble Qur'an: , the hadith in question is intended to negate physical impurity, not spiritual impurity. The believer to whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: is physically impure; so all the more so is he not spiritually impure. The hadith was narrated to discuss physical impurity, and that it is negated for the believer even in the situation that might occur to some people's minds as being a state of impurity, which is when he is in a state of major ritual impurity. When Abu Hurayrah came to the Messenger (peace be upon him) and withdrew and retreated from the gathering because the Messenger was present, and he usually shakes hands with his companions; he withdrew because he was in a state of major ritual impurity, so he assumed that due to his major ritual impurity he was impure. The Messenger (peace be upon him) was surprised by him and expressed this by saying: ; meaning: physical impurity.
As for spiritual impurity, it is not mentioned in the hadith, but it is understood by way of a fortiori argument; because if the Muslim does not become physically impure due to major ritual impurity, then the faith and belief in what came in Islam that he possesses makes him also not spiritually impure. It is not so with the disbeliever; the disbeliever's spiritual impurity is established, as we mentioned in the Book and in the Sunnah also, though the texts in the Sunnah are few, especially those that are authentic. However, I will mention a text in which there is weakness in its chain; it is when the delegation of Najran came to the Messenger (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) in the mosque, and it seemed that the Companions objected to their entering it, and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) noticed this from them, so he said: "None of their impurity is upon your mosque; their impurity is only in themselves"; meaning: their impurity is spiritual impurity. We do not have in the Sunnah anything that establishes that the polytheist's impurity is physical impurity because he is a polytheist; this is contrary to the position of some other Islamic sects.

The questioner : The fact that the Messenger used to shake hands with polytheists and others is also evidence for ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.