Explanation of Hadiths from *Umdat al-Ahkam*: “... and whoever uses stones for cleaning, let him use an odd number ...”

The Shaykh : The second part of the hadith: Istijmar is the removal of impurity from the two passages using stones or the like. The meaning is known and does not need explanation? When a person urinates or defecates, there must be impurity in the place, either from urine or feces. It is permissible to remove this impurity with stones, meaning you wipe it with stones. I hope you pay attention: what is wiping with stones called?
The student: Istijmar.

The Shaykh : And with water, it is istinja'. Now, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: meaning, let him conclude his istijmar with an odd number. Good.
Does the meaning imply wiping once? Answer me, everyone. I want to take this from this hadith. No, because if one wipe were sufficient, there would have been no need for him to say, "Let him perform witr," for if a person wipes once, he has performed witr. So, three wipes are necessary. The minimum number of wipes is three. And with that, the impurity must be removed. So, if you wipe the first time, it is not sufficient. The second time? Follow me, it is not sufficient. The third time? Do we look to see if there is any trace in what you wiped with or not? If there is a trace, it is not sufficient, because the place has not been cleaned. If there is no trace, it is sufficient. Is that clear? But it is not permissible to wipe with a bone. It is not permissible to wipe with dung. It is not permissible to wipe with food. It is not permissible to wipe with something respected. How many are these? Four. It is not permissible to wipe with a bone. It is not permissible to wipe with dung, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a person from wiping with a bone or dung, and he explained that they are the provisions of our brothers from the jinn. Brothers from the jinn? He said: . Are the jinn your brother? Yes, a full brother, not from the same father or mother? No, a brother in faith. . Rest, and that is because the delegation of jinn who came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) believing in him, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) honored them with the greatest hospitality. He said: . There is no god but Allah. Say, "There is no god but Allah." There is no god but Allah. Allah is able to do all things. All the meat, all of it on earth, and throw it; it is white and shining. The jinni finds it all meat, the most abundant meat it can be. Allah is the Greatest! Allah is able to do all things. But you might say, O human, I do not see the meat. The bone is still prominent to me, so we say, "Be a jinni," and you will see it. Yes, but as long as you are human, you cannot see it, because the jinn are a hidden realm in their food, drink, and clothing; they are a hidden realm. He sees you and his tribe from where you do not see them. It is not possible for you to see their food when you do not see them. If a group of jinn gathers on this bone, do they eat the meat that was on it? Is it possible to see the meat and not see these people? No, that does not happen. So we say, do not wipe with a bone.
If the bone did not have the name of Allah mentioned over it, because the hadith is Would it be covered with meat for the jinn or not? Answer, everyone. It would not, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: . Good, so why do we not use it for istijmar? We say: because it would be impure. Carrion, even if it is originally pure, like the carrion of a camel, becomes impure. So if it is impure and the bone from it is impure, is it possible for a person to purify himself with something impure? It is not possible. For this reason, istijmar with bones is forbidden, whether they are bones from lawfully slaughtered animals, bones from carrion, or bones from what is not permissible to eat. Good. Dung: istinja' with it is forbidden, meaning istijmar with it is forbidden. Why? Brother, stand up, stand up, man. Will you answer or not? I didn't understand, do you know what dung is? - No one is speaking - You don't know dung? Have you seen a camel? The question is specific. Have you seen a camel? Have you seen a camel? Yes, you saw it? What comes out of its rear? What comes out of its rear, from behind, what comes out? This is dung. Rest. It is not permissible to use dung for istijmar, why? Because it is the feed of the jinn's beasts. Glory be to Allah! Yes, the waste of human beasts becomes feed for what? For the jinn's beasts. And this clearly indicates that humans are better than jinn, and there is no doubt in this. Good. So they have the remains of our bones, and the dung of our beasts is the feed for their beasts. And praise be to Allah who has favored us over them. Good. What is taken from this, everyone, is the fourth thing we mentioned, or the third?
The third: It is not permissible to use food for istijmar. If someone, may Allah protect us, used food for humans or beasts for istijmar, this would be haram. Like what? Yes, like if a man, may Allah protect us from deviation of hearts, used dry bread for istijmar, this is haram, because if it is forbidden to use the food of the jinn for istijmar, then the food of humans is even more so, without doubt. Similarly, if a person used feed for istijmar, this is haram, because it is the food of our beasts. And if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade istijmar with dung because it is the food of the jinn's beasts, then the beasts of humans are even more so. Clear, everyone? Good. What do you say about this? The earth, praise be to Allah, is all green with grass, and a person wants to urinate, where does he urinate? Answer, everyone. Where does he urinate? Yes. What? He digs a pit? This means you must always have a spade with you, or... always, yes. I say: May Allah reward you. The Islamic Shari'ah does not bring hardship, as He the Exalted said: . So if the earth is all green with grass, and the grass is the food of our beasts, and a person wants to urinate or defecate. We say, you must have a spade with you. If you want to urinate, dig? No, that is not correct. We say, rather, even on this grass, because this is a necessity. Or if I said, “Brother, the bag is with him, he urinates in it, and if he goes beyond the grassy area, he spills it.” All of this does not happen. Good.
The fourth: The respected, such as books of Islamic jurisprudence, it is not permissible for a person to use books of Islamic jurisprudence for istijmar. If a person wanted to use a paper containing Islamic knowledge for istijmar. We say this is haram. But if it is from the Qur'an, it is apostasy from Islam, apostasy from Islam, disbelief, because this is one of the greatest insults to the words of Allah the Exalted. So the things that are not used for istijmar, how many are they? Four. Bones, dung, food, and the respected.
Good. . We return to the hadith , meaning, let him conclude his istijmar with an odd number. Good. We determined that a person used stones three times and it was not clean, and when he used them the fourth time, it became clean. Do we say, go to five? Yes, go to five. And if he stops at six, he goes to seven.
Is this on the basis of obligation or on the basis of recommendation? It is on the basis of recommendation, because it came in the hadith: .