Benefits of the Hadith (It is not impure; it is one of those that go around you)
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The Shaykh : From this hadith, it is derived first that a person should, when he sees someone finding a certain state strange, remove that strangeness from them. The explanation is that Abu Qatadah narrated this hadith to remove the strangeness of his family, meaning his wife. This is considered among the virtues of character: that a person does for his brother what he would like to be informed of, even if he did not ask. This is part of the guidance of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In the story of the Islam of Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him), it is mentioned that he sat behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to look at the seal of prophethood. The seal of prophethood is a sign indicating that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the seal of the prophets. It was mentioned to Salman, according to what he had lived through, that one of the signs of the unlettered prophet is the seal of prophethood between his shoulders. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting and saw this man behind him, as if he was looking for something, so he lowered his cloak. He lowered the cloak without Salman asking him to, in order for him to see it. So among the virtues of character is that if you see your brother wanting to see something, and there is no harm to you in his seeing it, you should facilitate his seeing what he wishes to see.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that the cat is pure. The cat is pure, even though it is forbidden to eat. Everything that is forbidden to eat is impure; this is the principle. The principle is that all animals that are forbidden to eat are impure. This is the principle. However, there are things whose impurity is removed for a certain reason. The principle regarding the cat is that it is impure because it is forbidden to eat. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) cited a cause that does not exist in others. So among the benefits of the hadith is that what is forbidden to eat is impure, because the Messenger removed the cat from impurity for a reason that does not exist in others.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that the cat is not impure. Is this in its entirety? The answer is no. It is not impure in its saliva, in what comes out of its nose, in its sweat, in its leftovers, meaning the remains of its food and drink. What about its urine?
The student: Ritually impure.
The Shaykh : It is impure. Its dung is impure. Its blood is impure. Because all these things are impure from what is forbidden to eat. So whatever comes out of the body of what is forbidden to eat is impure, such as urine, dung, blood, vomit, and the like.
Now, among the benefits of this hadith is that if a cat drinks from water, and this is the context of the hadith in this chapter, if it drinks from water, then the water does not become impure, whether it is little or much. Because the vessel that Abu Qatadah used for ablution was small.
Among its benefits is that there is no difference between the cat having eaten something impure or not having eaten it. Why? Because of the generality of the hadith. So it is not said, for example, if you see it eating a mouse and then it drinks from water, the water becomes impure. We say the hadith is general that it is not impure, whether it ate what is impure recently or long ago. Yes, if you see the trace of blood on its lips in this water, it becomes impure. But if you do not see anything, it is pure.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that hardship brings about ease. The explanation is that Allah the Exalted removed the impurity from it due to the hardship of guarding against it, since it is what?
The student: One of those that go around.
The Shaykh : One of those that go around. If it were impure and it were in the house drinking from the vessel, drinking from milk, eating from the food, there would be hardship in that.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that impurities that are difficult to guard against are excused. The scholars mentioned from this that a small amount of impure blood not coming from the two passages is excused. And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: All impurities are excused in small amounts with the hardship of guarding against them. And what he said (may Allah have mercy on him) applies to the rule. So based on this, those who use donkeys, and you know that a donkey urinates and defecates, sometimes it stands while the load is on its back, it stands and urinates on solid ground. What does it hit its owner with?
The student: The spray.
The Shaykh : It will hit him with the spray. Shaykh al-Islam says that such a thing is excused due to the hardship of guarding against it. And he took this opinion from this explanation that it is one of those that go around you.
Now, among the benefits of this hadith is that the mouse is pure. What is the evidence?
The student: One of those that go around you.
The Shaykh : They explained it with the hadith, better, Sunan Abi Dawud 75Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani) so it is one that goes around us. If someone says, did not the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) say regarding the mouse that dies in oil ? Yes, he said so. But this is carrion. And the mouse, when it dies, becomes impure, and the cat also, when it dies, becomes impure. Because the cause for which it was lightened has now disappeared. Now it is not one that goes around, clear?
Now, among the benefits of this hadith is that if an animal that is forbidden to eat, which is smaller than the cat but is rarely seen, drinks, it becomes impure. Do you agree?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, and this is the correct view. And what some scholars mentioned, that the basis of the ruling is the size of the animal without the hardship of guarding against it, is weak. Because some scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) made the basis of the ruling the size and said: The cat and what is smaller than it in creation is pure. And this is not indicated by the hadith. The hadith indicates that the cause is what? The hardship of guarding against it. If someone says: That is refuted by the dog, the hunting dog, the guard dog, the livestock dog. It goes around us and guarding against it is difficult, and it is established that its impurity is severe. It is said: The Islamic Shari'ah has general and specific rulings. Which one takes precedence over the other?
The student: The specific.
The Shaykh : The specific, yes, takes precedence over the general. So it is said: The dog is an exception. The dog is an exception by the indication of the hadith. And we do not have the right to rule by analogy over the text, but rather we rule by the text over the analogy.
Yes, and among the benefits of this hadith is the mercy of Allah Mighty and Majestic to creation, where He lightened for them what is difficult for them to avoid, due to His saying:Sunan Abi Dawud 75Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani) And this, my brothers, is a consistent rule in this Islamic Shari'ah, built on mercy, on ease. It is a smooth, upright religion, with no difficulty at all. And take this as a rule from the words of Allah and the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the words of Allah, He said: [Al-Baqarah 2:185] And He said: [Al-Hajj 22:78] And as for the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: The religion is general, all of the religion is ease And he would send expeditions and say: This is a rule. Then, sometimes a person is overcome by jealousy when he sees sins and wrongs, and he becomes angry and severe. We say: May Allah reward you with good. Jealousy is undoubtedly required, and whoever has no jealousy, his heart is dead. But when you are jealous, do you want to extinguish the fire of jealousy with harsh words or unpleasant actions from you, or do you want to reform people?
The student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second is what should be. And if the intention is reform, we must take the closest path to reform. When I see a man committing a sin, I undoubtedly hate it for him. I hate the sin and I hate the sin for this person too. But how do we treat this? If a person finds someone with wounds and swelling, does he come with a bad knife and cut him and let him bleed, or does he come with the gentlest thing by which the operation is achieved and clean him?
The student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second, there is no doubt in this. And moral diseases, my brothers, moral diseases are like physical diseases. So we must, especially in this age where sins have multiplied, use the gentlest means possible. A person is indeed a human being who may become angry and upset, but he must calm himself because he wants what? To reform others.
Yes, very well. So we say that this religion, and praise be to Allah, is made easy in all its aspects, and the aim is to reform creation by any means. This legislation regarding the cat indicates that. For example, there are things that frequent houses and are often found there, such as forbidden birds. What is the ruling on these forbidden birds that are frequently found in homes? It is the same as the cat. However, if they do not come except rarely and are not among those that frequent the place, then as I told you, everything whose eating is forbidden is impure, except for one thing that we have clarified, which may come up: that which has no flowing blood. Insects that have no flowing blood are not impure; they are pure whether alive or dead.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that the cat is pure. The cat is pure, even though it is forbidden to eat. Everything that is forbidden to eat is impure; this is the principle. The principle is that all animals that are forbidden to eat are impure. This is the principle. However, there are things whose impurity is removed for a certain reason. The principle regarding the cat is that it is impure because it is forbidden to eat. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) cited a cause that does not exist in others. So among the benefits of the hadith is that what is forbidden to eat is impure, because the Messenger removed the cat from impurity for a reason that does not exist in others.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that the cat is not impure. Is this in its entirety? The answer is no. It is not impure in its saliva, in what comes out of its nose, in its sweat, in its leftovers, meaning the remains of its food and drink. What about its urine?
The student: Ritually impure.
The Shaykh : It is impure. Its dung is impure. Its blood is impure. Because all these things are impure from what is forbidden to eat. So whatever comes out of the body of what is forbidden to eat is impure, such as urine, dung, blood, vomit, and the like.
Now, among the benefits of this hadith is that if a cat drinks from water, and this is the context of the hadith in this chapter, if it drinks from water, then the water does not become impure, whether it is little or much. Because the vessel that Abu Qatadah used for ablution was small.
Among its benefits is that there is no difference between the cat having eaten something impure or not having eaten it. Why? Because of the generality of the hadith. So it is not said, for example, if you see it eating a mouse and then it drinks from water, the water becomes impure. We say the hadith is general that it is not impure, whether it ate what is impure recently or long ago. Yes, if you see the trace of blood on its lips in this water, it becomes impure. But if you do not see anything, it is pure.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that hardship brings about ease. The explanation is that Allah the Exalted removed the impurity from it due to the hardship of guarding against it, since it is what?
The student: One of those that go around.
The Shaykh : One of those that go around. If it were impure and it were in the house drinking from the vessel, drinking from milk, eating from the food, there would be hardship in that.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that impurities that are difficult to guard against are excused. The scholars mentioned from this that a small amount of impure blood not coming from the two passages is excused. And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: All impurities are excused in small amounts with the hardship of guarding against them. And what he said (may Allah have mercy on him) applies to the rule. So based on this, those who use donkeys, and you know that a donkey urinates and defecates, sometimes it stands while the load is on its back, it stands and urinates on solid ground. What does it hit its owner with?
The student: The spray.
The Shaykh : It will hit him with the spray. Shaykh al-Islam says that such a thing is excused due to the hardship of guarding against it. And he took this opinion from this explanation that it is one of those that go around you.
Now, among the benefits of this hadith is that the mouse is pure. What is the evidence?
The student: One of those that go around you.
The Shaykh :
among those that frequent you
من الطّوّافين عليكمit is one of those (males or females) who go round among you
إنّها من الطّوّافين عليكمThrow it away and what is around it
ألقوها وما حولهاNow, among the benefits of this hadith is that if an animal that is forbidden to eat, which is smaller than the cat but is rarely seen, drinks, it becomes impure. Do you agree?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, and this is the correct view. And what some scholars mentioned, that the basis of the ruling is the size of the animal without the hardship of guarding against it, is weak. Because some scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) made the basis of the ruling the size and said: The cat and what is smaller than it in creation is pure. And this is not indicated by the hadith. The hadith indicates that the cause is what? The hardship of guarding against it. If someone says: That is refuted by the dog, the hunting dog, the guard dog, the livestock dog. It goes around us and guarding against it is difficult, and it is established that its impurity is severe. It is said: The Islamic Shari'ah has general and specific rulings. Which one takes precedence over the other?
The student: The specific.
The Shaykh : The specific, yes, takes precedence over the general. So it is said: The dog is an exception. The dog is an exception by the indication of the hadith. And we do not have the right to rule by analogy over the text, but rather we rule by the text over the analogy.
Yes, and among the benefits of this hadith is the mercy of Allah Mighty and Majestic to creation, where He lightened for them what is difficult for them to avoid, due to His saying:
Narrated AbuQatadah: Kabshah, daughter of Ka'b ibn Malik and wife of Ibn AbuQatadah, reported: AbuQatadah visited (me) and I poured out water for him for ablution. A cat came and drank some of it and he tilted the vessel for it until it drank some of it. Kabshah said: He saw me looking at him; he asked me: Are you surprised, my niece? I said: Yes. He then reported the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: It is not unclean; it is one of those (males or females) who go round among you.
إنّها ليست بنجس إنّها من الطّوافينAllah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship
يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسرand has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty
وما جعل عليكم في الدّين من حرجIndeed, religion is ease.
إنّ الدّين يسرand no one can overpower the religion except that it overpowers him
ولا يشادّ أحد الدّين إلاّ غلبهMake things easy and do not make them difficult, and give glad tidings and do not drive people away, for you have been sent to make things easy and not to make them difficult
يسّروا ولا تعسّروا، وبشّروا ولا تنفّروا فإنّما بعثتم ميسّرين ولم تبعثوا معسّرينThe student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second is what should be. And if the intention is reform, we must take the closest path to reform. When I see a man committing a sin, I undoubtedly hate it for him. I hate the sin and I hate the sin for this person too. But how do we treat this? If a person finds someone with wounds and swelling, does he come with a bad knife and cut him and let him bleed, or does he come with the gentlest thing by which the operation is achieved and clean him?
The student: The second.
The Shaykh : The second, there is no doubt in this. And moral diseases, my brothers, moral diseases are like physical diseases. So we must, especially in this age where sins have multiplied, use the gentlest means possible. A person is indeed a human being who may become angry and upset, but he must calm himself because he wants what? To reform others.
Yes, very well. So we say that this religion, and praise be to Allah, is made easy in all its aspects, and the aim is to reform creation by any means. This legislation regarding the cat indicates that. For example, there are things that frequent houses and are often found there, such as forbidden birds. What is the ruling on these forbidden birds that are frequently found in homes? It is the same as the cat. However, if they do not come except rarely and are not among those that frequent the place, then as I told you, everything whose eating is forbidden is impure, except for one thing that we have clarified, which may come up: that which has no flowing blood. Insects that have no flowing blood are not impure; they are pure whether alive or dead.