SEVEN_WASHINGS

THE 7 WASHINGS

1. Be prepared for a bit of gardening (therefore out with your trowel!). Find some purifying earth [turab tahir] as you would for the earth used for Tayammum. This is basically earth that is not contaminated or mixed with any impurity [turab mutanajjis]; nor earth that has already been used to purify something in an earlier washing [turab musta'mal]; nor earth that can no longer be called earth if, for example, mixed with cement. Wahl or mud that is deposited after a rain for example is also acceptable, as it is with clay (even potter's clay) and fine sand (as long as it makes the water cloudy). The purifying earth is usually something that one can easily acquire from one's back garden. You don't need much earth, less than 1/2 a cup-full will do (depending of course on the amount of the thing that needs purifying).

2. Once you have accumulated some purifying earth, prepare a container of pure water.

3. It is preferable [awla] to mix the purifying earth with water in the first washing and it is not preferable [khilaf awla] to mix it in the last washing. The solution should appear kadar [muddy or cloudy] depending on the kind of soil you use. If it is sand for example, it would not be as cloudy as when a darker soil is used.

4. Once the water-earth solution is ready, use it to clean (or rather treat) the contaminated area or the area affected by the impurity [mahall mutanajjis]. The method of washing can vary (the one I am giving you is 1 out of 3 possible kayfiyyat). Since we have already mixed the water with earth, you will be pouring the solution to all of the affected area (the water here acts as the wasita [means or medium] for bringing the earth to the impure area). You can of course skip #3 above and mix the two later such as water is poured first on the affected area and the earth is added later on. However, for practical reasons it might be easier to mix the water with the purifying earth first.

5. The washing must continue until the impurity (its colour, its smell, and its taste) disappears (i.e., it loses its Najasa 'Ayniyya status), no matter how many washing it takes. So, for example, even if it took you 6 so-called washings to remove the impurity by which point the 'ayn of the impurity is removed, then this is considered to be your first washing. So you still have a remainder of 6 washings to perform.

6. If during the washing (and if you still have not added purifying earth to the affected area), parts of the impurity moves to another place due to the sprinkling or the splattering affect of water, then the new place must [Wajib] be treated with purifying earth. This is why it is preferable to mix the earth with water in the first washing and thereby treating and removing the 'ayn in the first washing.

7. If the washing is done in places where there is a lot of water (i.e., more than the qullatayn) and the water is not moving [ma' rakid; such as in a swimming pool], then it is sufficient to move the affected area 7 times back and forth (each movement whether back or forth counts as one). If one is submerged and keeps still, then that is considered one washing even if it lasts for a long time. If the washing is done in areas of running water [ma' jari; such as a sink], then it suffices to pass the water by the affected area 7 times. Of course, in all of the above situations, the rule of 'it counts only as one washing until the 'ayn disappears,' applies. So if the river is clear for example, then it would be necessary [Wajib] to apply purifying earth onto the affected area either by muddying the water (from the riverbed) or doing it before you enter the stream.

There is an alternative position in our school with respect to substituting the earth with some other cleaning agent. However, because this position is not the strongest in the school (and also not the official line - so to speak), there are reservations in adopting it.

There is really no great difficulty in using washing machines with clothes contaminated by Heavy Impurities. All you have to do in order to prevent the impurity from contaminating other non-Mughallaza items is to simply neutralise the Mughallaza first before you put them into the machine. Think of it as treating the particular garment(s) in question in the same way as you would when you manually apply a special conditioner to those garment(s) requiring special attention. This is no different (in fact it is better because purifying Mughallaza is a mark of ta'abbud but applying special conditioners to your favourite garments is not). So once the 'ayn is removed (by the kayfiyya above) then just throw it into the machine for automatic washing!

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