What is the fiqh of the two hadiths: (None of you should bathe in stagnant water while in a state of major ritual impurity), (A group from my Ummah will remain manifest upon the truth... fighting the Dajjal)

The questioner : The first question: What is the fiqh of the following two hadiths: and the second hadith: It was said, "O Abu Hurayrah, how does he do it?" He said: "He takes it by scooping."

The Shaykh : Yes, regarding the first hadith, the intention is not the continuity of the victorious group in direct combat, which is physical fighting, because this is only related to this long period after his statement, peace and blessings be upon him, after his statement, peace and blessings be upon him, for this authentic hadith. Rather, the intention is that this fighting does not cease entirely from this victorious group to the point that they remain defeated in their affairs and unable to fight those who oppose them. However, this continuity does not negate that there may be some interruption from time to time. This is exactly what comes to my mind regarding his statement, peace be upon him: That is, it does not mean that the sword is constantly active, like a butcher, for example, who puts meat in and cuts it for five minutes, a quarter of an hour, whatever it is, but that it does not cease; the time of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) passes, which is a reference to the fitnah and the killing that occurs between them, so it continues. But this does not mean that it does not cease, because the matter is as he said, peace and blessings be upon him, in the authentic hadith: In summary, the fighting mentioned in the hadith, if interpreted as physical fighting, does not mean that they continue in fighting at every moment, no, rather that this fighting of theirs against the disbelievers does not cease until the Day of Resurrection, meaning it continues, even if in a state of intermittency between one battle and another. And if the intention by fighting is the spiritual fighting, which is the argument, then this, praise be to Allah, is continuous always and forever until the Hour stands. This is the answer regarding the first hadith. As for the other hadith, it is very clear, and I do not know what is the reason for asking about this clear matter? The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, forbids immersing oneself in stagnant water if one is in a state of major ritual impurity, and rather commands to take from it by scooping. The matter is very clear that immersing oneself exposes this stagnant water to one of two things, and it must be one of them: either ritual impurity or filth. So, in order to preserve the purity of the water, or at least the cleanliness of the water which is accompanied by purity—meaning the water may be pure but it may be filthy, the matter may be like this—then the one who immerses himself in the water will either contaminate it or make it ritually impure. And therefore, it was part of the Prophet's, peace and blessings be upon him, education of his Ummah to forbid this, to immerse oneself in the water, and to command him to take from it by scooping, as the narrator of the hadith, Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, clarified. And after this clarification, I want to draw attention to a matter that we need to observe when we study the Sunnah (the Prophet's way). This Companion here, in my opinion, is exactly like the statement of another Companion. Here, Abu Hurayrah, who is the narrator of the hadith, was asked, "What does this person do who was forbidden from immersing himself in the water?" He said: "He takes it by scooping." Here we say, the narrator is more knowledgeable about his narration than others. Here we benefit from this benefit, we formulate this rule with this hadith, and we say: This narrator of the hadith, as long as he answered the question when he narrated the hadith, saying: "He takes it by scooping," then he is more knowledgeable about the meaning of this hadith than those who come after him and interpret it with another interpretation. So this is exactly similar.