It is possible to purify a thing which has become
najis. These
muṭahhirāt agents that can purify
najis can be divided into three groups:
The mutahirat • the
Earth • the
Sun •
Water – The Qur'an says: "He [Allah] is the one who sends the winds as good news before His mercy; and We send down pure water from the cloud." (
25:48) According to the shari'ah, water can be of two types:
muṭlaq and
muḍāf.
Muṭlaq is pure water without putting it to a scientific test. The five forms of
muṭlaq are the following:
rain, well water, running or flowing water (
river or
stream),
kur water (
lake,
sea or
ocean), and less than
kur.
Muḍāf is diluted water
Physical change •
istiḥālah (chemical change) •
inqilāb (change in properties) •
intiqāl (change in place) •
zawāl li-ʿayni n-najāsah (disappearance of the source of najāsah) •
istibrāʾ (quarantining)
Spiritual change • Islam •
tabaʿīyyah (following) •
ghaybat al-muslim (absence of a Muslim) Not all of these agents can purify every
najis. However, among the agents water is the most universal purifying agent while the other agents are limited. ==Sources of law==