Explanation of the Book of Purification-04
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The Shaykh : The hadith of Abu Qatadah. The new lesson. He (may Allah have mercy on him) said, in what he transmitted from the hadiths of the Book of Purification: "From Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding the cat: Sunan Abi Dawud 76Sahih (Al-Albani) The four [imams] narrated it, and al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Khuzaymah graded it as authentic". He said regarding the cat that it is not impure. This hadith has a cause; that is, its transmission has a cause, not that its issuance from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had a cause. Rather, the transmission by Abu Qatadah has a cause, because he distinguishes between the narrator transmitting the hadith for a reason and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying it for a reason. So, this hadith was transmitted by Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) for a reason, which is that he entered his home, and his wife poured water for him to perform ablution with. A cat came, and he tilted the vessel toward it and let it drink from this water that he intended to perform ablution with. He looked at it, and it seemed to him that she disapproved of this or found it strange, so he told her this hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Is it appropriate to say that this is the cause of the hadith, or the cause of the hadith's transmission by the narrator?
The student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second option. Yes, the cat is well-known and has many names; it is one of the animals with the most names because it is common among people. Whatever people use frequently has many names, because every group of people calls it by a name. For this reason, the lion and the cat have the most names. The cat is called a cat, as in the hadith; it is also called a qittah, a sunnawar, and a bass (with the ba' opened). He said in al-Qamus that the common people break it (make it bass), but otherwise it is bass. It has many names; one who refers to al-Damiri's Book of Animals or others can look at its names. But this knowledge is not that important. The important thing is that if we were asked what a cat is, we would say: it is the one known among people and common among people. Is the cat a predator or not? In reality, it is among the predators because it tears with its canine teeth, so it is among the predators. And the cat, in the past in our lands, would eat a chicken greatly; it would seize it while it was hanging in its perch, meaning the chicken, and bring it down to the ground and eat it. But now, glory to Allah, it eats with them in the same vessel, and you never say anything to it. It is said that this is because the cat's status has risen and it no longer wants chickens, but eats pigeons, and Allah knows best. In any case, may Allah guide it and subdue it now, so it is in fact one of the animals accustomed to houses.
He says it is not impure, meaning that it is pure, because negating the opposite affirms its opposite. So, if he negated that it is impure, it became pure. Yes, it is not impure. And "najis" here is a descriptive adjective, like "batal" (brave) being a name for a courageous person. Similarly, "najis" is a name for what is impure in itself and makes other things impure. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Then, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), by his custom, wisdom, and eloquence in teaching, when he mentioned a ruling, he mentioned its cause, especially if the ruling needed a cause in order for a person to be reassured about this ruling. He said: And he explained the reason for it. He did not say it is halal (lawful); he said: Sunan Abi Dawud 75Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani) He did not say "from those that go around [feminine]". The apparent, and Allah knows best, following the wording of the Qur'an in His saying: [An-Nur 24:58] So it is from those that go around. And I only said that because the feminine is not pluralized with the masculine plural. And it is known that the cat is feminine. From those that go around. What is the meaning of "tawwaf"? Tawwaf is one who frequently returns, one who frequently returns to a thing is called a tawwaf. So this is the cause by which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained that the cat is not impure.
It is not unclean: it is one of those who go round among you.
إنها ليست بنجس، إنما هي من الطوافين عليكمIt is not impure
إنّها ليست بنجسThe student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second option. Yes, the cat is well-known and has many names; it is one of the animals with the most names because it is common among people. Whatever people use frequently has many names, because every group of people calls it by a name. For this reason, the lion and the cat have the most names. The cat is called a cat, as in the hadith; it is also called a qittah, a sunnawar, and a bass (with the ba' opened). He said in al-Qamus that the common people break it (make it bass), but otherwise it is bass. It has many names; one who refers to al-Damiri's Book of Animals or others can look at its names. But this knowledge is not that important. The important thing is that if we were asked what a cat is, we would say: it is the one known among people and common among people. Is the cat a predator or not? In reality, it is among the predators because it tears with its canine teeth, so it is among the predators. And the cat, in the past in our lands, would eat a chicken greatly; it would seize it while it was hanging in its perch, meaning the chicken, and bring it down to the ground and eat it. But now, glory to Allah, it eats with them in the same vessel, and you never say anything to it. It is said that this is because the cat's status has risen and it no longer wants chickens, but eats pigeons, and Allah knows best. In any case, may Allah guide it and subdue it now, so it is in fact one of the animals accustomed to houses.
He says it is not impure, meaning that it is pure, because negating the opposite affirms its opposite. So, if he negated that it is impure, it became pure. Yes, it is not impure. And "najis" here is a descriptive adjective, like "batal" (brave) being a name for a courageous person. Similarly, "najis" is a name for what is impure in itself and makes other things impure. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: