They ask this question, saying that many people place bags of salt in the wells, and their intention is to break up the earth so that it absorbs the water.
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The questioner : They ask this question, saying that many people place bags of salt in the wells, and their intention is to break up the earth so that it absorbs the water and reduces the effort of pumping it out. Is this permissible or not? We ask for an answer to this question. May Allah guide you.
The Shaykh : Salt is originally derived from water, and water is permissible for removing impurity, as is well known. Therefore, it is permissible to place bags of salt in the wells to open them up so that the owner can be safe, or so that the owner is spared the hardship of pumping them out every time they fill up. This is because, as we have mentioned, salt is originally water.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And water is permissible for removing impurity, and there is no blame on them if they place these bags in the wells.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : But has not salt changed after it came out of the water and became tangible, for example, measured, and so on, and dry? Is it not a blessing, and is not everything created from water?
Answer: Even water is a blessing.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And this salt is used to prepare food, but it is not food itself. Not everything that is used to prepare food has the ruling of food.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Fuel, without doubt, is used to prepare food, and it does not become food except through cooking, and yet fuel does not have the ruling of food. Yes.
The questioner : The letter in our hands, which we received from one of the listeners in Sudan, Al-Sir Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sudani, and he sent a letter before this one, and in his letter he says.
The Shaykh : Salt is originally derived from water, and water is permissible for removing impurity, as is well known. Therefore, it is permissible to place bags of salt in the wells to open them up so that the owner can be safe, or so that the owner is spared the hardship of pumping them out every time they fill up. This is because, as we have mentioned, salt is originally water.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And water is permissible for removing impurity, and there is no blame on them if they place these bags in the wells.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : But has not salt changed after it came out of the water and became tangible, for example, measured, and so on, and dry? Is it not a blessing, and is not everything created from water?
Answer: Even water is a blessing.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And this salt is used to prepare food, but it is not food itself. Not everything that is used to prepare food has the ruling of food.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Fuel, without doubt, is used to prepare food, and it does not become food except through cooking, and yet fuel does not have the ruling of food. Yes.
The questioner : The letter in our hands, which we received from one of the listeners in Sudan, Al-Sir Ahmad Ibrahim al-Sudani, and he sent a letter before this one, and in his letter he says.