Water is pure; nothing renders it impure except that which overpowers its smell, taste, or color. Is this hadith authentic?

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Your Eminence, the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated by Ibn Majah: .

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : What is the ruling on the hadith, O Shaykh, in terms of its authenticity or weakness?

The Shaykh : No, it is weak.

The questioner : How did the scholars, O Shaykh, rank it? When they established certain rules based on it.

The Shaykh : Listen, may Allah reward you. It is a weak hadith in terms of its chain of narration, but it is correct in terms of its meaning. Water is pure; every drop of water that descends from the sky is pure, as Allah Mighty and Majestic said: . Every spring of water that emerges from the earth is pure, because water that springs from the earth is water that has descended from the sky, as the Exalted said regarding rain that He guided it to springs in the earth. So, if the original state of water descending from the sky or springing from the earth is purity, then it cannot depart from this original state except by that which changes it. If it is changed by impurity, it becomes impure. So, the hadith has a weak chain of narration but a correct meaning. This leads to a rule I would like you to understand: sometimes the chain of narration is authentic but the text is weak or denounceable, so it is not permissible to rely on the apparent chain of narration. Therefore, the scholars said that the authentic hadith is: "what is narrated by a just narrator with complete precision through a connected chain of narration". These are three things, all of which relate to the chain of narration, either to the men or to the chain. "and it is free from anomaly", which is contradicting the authentic hadiths, and "free from a decisive defect". So, sometimes the chain of narration appears authentic, but the text is denounceable, so it is not relied upon. Yes.