PURITY OF BODY, CLOTHES, AND PLACE OF PRAYER
It is a necessary condition (shart) for the validity of prayer that one have purity (absence of filth (najasa) in:
a) body;
b) clothing, whether or not it moves with the person (who is praying);
c) anything that touches the body or clothing (though if one’s chest overhangs something impure while prostrating without touching it, this does not hurt);
d) And the place on which one is standing during the prayer.
One’s prayer is invalid if one is holding the end of a rope connected with something impure.
One’s prayer is valid if performed on the pure portion of a rug which is affected with some filth (on another part) or on a bed whose legs rest on something impure, even if the rug or bed moves when one’s own portion moves. (The rule illustrated by these examples is that it is not permissible for the person praying to support or carry something affected by filth, but is permissible for him to be supported by it, provided he is not in direct contact with the filth.)
Impure substances (najasa) other than blood (dis: below) that are indiscernible by (average) vision are excusable, though if visually discernible, they are inexcusable. (That which is seen by a normal look is not excusable, while that which can only be seen by minute scrutiny is excusable.)
As for blood or pus, if it is from another, (human or otherwise,) then only a little is excusable, though if from the person praying, it is excusable whether much or little, regardless if from a squeezed pimple, a boil, a sore, being bled, cupped, or something else.
(In rulings of Sacred Law, the application of key descriptive terms like little, much, near, far, briefly, at length, and so forth, is governed by the concept of common acknowledgement (‘urf). To know whether something is little or much, which could be stipulations in a particular ruling, we stop to reflect whether it is commonly acknowledged as such, namely, whether most people would describe it as such when speaking about it.
Common acknowledgement also takes into consideration what is normal or expected under the circumstances. For example, a few drops of animal blood on the clothes of a butcher would be little, while the same amount on the clothes of a student would be much.)
If one prays with (N: an inexcusable amount of) something impure (on one’s person, place, or clothes) that one did not know of or forgot, and notices it after finishing, one must repeat the prayer. It invalidates the prayer if noticed during it.
If one gets some mud on oneself from the street and but is not certain it contains filth, then it is is considered pure (the rule being that the initial presumption for all things is that they are pure, as long as their impurity has not been decisively established).
Someone unable to remove filth from his person or who is being held in an impure place must pray and later make up the prayer when capable of purity.
(When being held in an impure place,) one bows the head as close to the ground as possible without actually contacting the filth, which is unlawful to place the forehead upon.
If one loses track of a spot of filth on a garment, then all of it must be washed without trying to decide where the spot might be, though if someone reliable knows where it is and informs one, one may accept this.
If a spot of filth is on one of two garments (one of which the person wants to pray in) and the person is not sure which, then he may reason and choose the one he believes is pure (N: to pray in), regardless of whether another pure one is available or whether he can wash one to use. (N: But it is not obligatory to try to decide which is pure. Rather, he may wash one, or both, and pray in them, or pray in some other garment.)
If one washes the garment believed to have filth on it, then one may pray wearing both garments, or pray in each garment alone, though if one makes no attempt to decide which garment is impure, but rather performs a prayer in each one separately, then neither prayer is valid.
If one loses track of the location of filth on the ground in open country, one may pray wherever one wishes.
But if one loses track of its location on a small plot of ground or in a room (bay!, lit. “house,” meaning a one room dwelling), then all the ground or floor must be washed before one may pray on any of it.
It is offensive to pray:
1. in a bathhouse or its outer room where clothes are removed;
2. in the middle of a path;
3. at a rubblish dump;
4. at a slaughterhouse;
5. in a church;
6. in places where taxes (dis: p32) are gathered or taken;
7. in places likely to be contaminated by wine;
8. on top of the Kaaba;
9. or towards a tomb.
Prayer is unlawful in a garment or on land wrongfully taken, being legally valid (dis: c5.2), but without reward.
(Source: The reliance of the traveller, revised edition, Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller)
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