What is the authenticity of the hadith: “If water reaches two qullahs, it does not carry impurity,” and what is its jurisprudential understanding?

The Shaykh : The question was about the hadith Is it authentic? And what is its jurisprudential understanding? The answer was that, in terms of its chain of narration, it is authentic, but from a jurisprudential perspective, the ruling is not based on it. Rather, the ruling is based on the hadith of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, which came regarding the well of Budha’ah, in which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said . So, regarding the hadith of the two qullahs, if we stop at it and take its explicit wording and its implication, we cannot derive a controlled legal ruling from it. The explicit wording of the hadith is that if the water reaches two qullahs and impurity falls into it, it does not become impure. Do you see this explicit wording? No matter what the impurity that fell into it is—stay with me, Jamal—they say in our region in the Levant that the eye is a ladle of speech, and don’t let our companion move. Our companion is moving as you see; stay with us.
Abu Layla : Oh, my Shaykh, there is a sound in this, and I will turn it down.

The Shaykh : No problem, it is just that it has nothing to do with you. You are performing your duty, and he is performing his duty. His duty is to listen to the answer, and your duty is to be proficient in what? The recording device. The explicit wording of the hadith of the two qullahs is that no matter the quantity of the impurity, as long as the water reaches two qullahs, it is not impure. And no jurist says this. On the contrary, if it does not reach two qullahs and a drop of impurity, such as urine or blood, falls into it, it may become impure. So, there is a complete contradiction here. If we assume the two qullahs in the known measures of today, let us assume fifty kilograms, because I am not aware right now. Do you remember how much the two qullahs measure?

The questioner : I do not know.

The Shaykh : Well, let us assume it is a hypothetical, because in reality, the ruling is not based on the two qullahs. Do you recall anything?

Another questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Well, if we take a break, the point is, let us assume that water weighing fifty kilograms, and fifty kilograms equals two qullahs, and one kilogram of urine falls into these fifty kilograms. What does the hadith give us? Is the water pure or impure?

The questioner : The hadith of the two qullahs says it is pure.

The Shaykh : Pure. If the water is less than fifty kilograms, and a kilogram of urine falls into it, is it pure or impure?

The questioner : Impure.

The Shaykh : Impure. If we tested this water, I do not mean by medical chemical testing, because Islam does not burden all Muslims with being doctors and chemists, but I say if we tested the two completely contradictory cases by the standard of the hadith How is that? In the second example, where a drop of urine fell, the water is pure. This drop was lost in the midst of this large amount of water, so no trace of this drop of urine remained at all. Here comes the hadith of Abu Sa’id: water is pure and nothing makes it impure. Of course, when we recall this hadith and recall the occasion on which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said the hadith in its context, we understand the hadith in the following way: from the impurities that fall into it, until it ceases to be absolute water, is that not so?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So, water is pure and nothing makes it impure from the impurities that fell into it. Well, the hadith of the two qullahs: a drop in each of the two qullahs gave us the ruling of what? Impurity. And on the contrary, the first example, which we illustrated with fifty kilograms of water or one liter of water, where a large amount of urine fell into it. If we applied the hadith of Abu Sa’id to it, its taste, color, or smell would have changed. I think the matter is clear, if Allah wills. The hadith of Abu Sa’id is the ruling. The hadith of the two qullahs is not a ruling. All that can be said is that the hadith was said on a specific occasion: that if that water was two qullahs and the impurity that fell into it, it does not become impure, because it is impossible for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to say that no matter the proportion of the impurity that fell into the two qullahs, it is what? It does not carry impurity. This is an impossible matter. Is the answer clear to you?

The questioner: Yes.