Nasai

39. Commentary:

➊ Cleansing from impurity is generally achieved with water or earth (soil), because both are, according to the Shariah and customary practice, purifying agents. In addition to cleansing, they also remove bad odor. Other things neither provide complete cleansing nor do they eliminate odor.

➋ Bone does not have the capacity to absorb (impurity); rather, it is hard, therefore it cannot provide proper cleansing. As for dung or manure, they themselves are impure or like impurity. How, then, can cleansing be achieved with them? Furthermore, bone and manure are also the food of the jinn and their animals, so it is prohibited to defile them with filth; this is explicitly stated in the ahadith.

Those who accept the ruling of performing ablution (wudu) with nabidh (date-infused water) present among their evidences the following hadith:

SA ❀ It is narrated from Ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, on the “Night of the Jinn” (the night when he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam met with the jinn), asked me, “Do you have any water?” I replied, “I do not have water, but I have a vessel in which there is nabidh.” Upon hearing this, the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: «فَصَبَبْتُ عَلَيْهِ فَتَوَضَّأَ بِهِ» “Pour it out and perform ablution with it,” and he also said: “It is a drink and a purifier.” [ضعيف : سنن ابن ماجه/ ح: 385]

EA

➊ The previous narration from Ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu, in which the permissibility of performing ablution with nabidh is mentioned—the “Night of the Jinn” narration—is weak. [ضعيف : سنن ابن ماجه/ ح: 385]

➋ In fact, there is a narration from Ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu to the contrary, that

«لَمْ أَكُنْ لَيْلَةَ الْجِنِّ مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَوَدِدْتُ أَنِّي كُنْتُ مَعَهُ»

“I was not present with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on the Night of the Jinn, though I wished that I had been with him.” [صحيح مسلم/ فواد: 450، دارالسلام: 1010]

(Imam Nawawi rahimahullah) This hadith (of Sahih Muslim) is clear (evidence) for the invalidity of the narration found in Sunan Abi Dawud, “in which performing ablution with nabidh and the presence of Ibn Mas‘ud radi Allahu anhu with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on the Night of the Jinn is mentioned,” because this hadith is authentic, and the narration regarding nabidh is, by consensus of the hadith scholars, weak. [شرح مسلم 307/2]

➍ Abu ‘Ubaydah rahimahullah was asked, “Was your father present with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam on the Night of the Jinn?” He replied, “No.” [دارقطني 77/1]

➎ Imam Tirmidhi rahimahullah also preferred this position. [ترمذي بعد الحديث 77]

English Commentary:
1:
The correct view is that both bones and dung were declared by the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as provisions for the jinn, and those narrations are weak in which it is stated that bones are for the jinn and dung is the provision for their animals (see Da‘ifah no. 1038).

2:
Imam Tirmidhi, with this chain, has himself brought the lengthy hadith to which he alluded, in his Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahqaf (no. 3258). “And this hadith is also in Muslim (no. 450).” In it, there is clear mention that, upon being questioned, Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud (radi Allahu anhu) denied being present on the “Night of the Jinn.” The correct view is that all narrations regarding Ibn Mas‘ud (radi Allahu anhu) being present on that “Night of the Jinn” are weak—whether it is the narration in which the jinn asked about their food, or the one in which ablution (wudu) with nabidh is mentioned. However, on two or three other occasions, on nights when there was a meeting with the jinn, he was with the Noble Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) (see: Al-Kawkab ad-Durri fi Sharh at-Tirmidhi).

3:
The difference between the narrations of Hafs ibn Ghiyath and Isma‘il ibn Ibrahim is that, according to Hafs’s narration, the hadith “Do not cleanse yourselves with...” is connected and marfu‘ (attributed directly to the Prophet), whereas according to Isma‘il’s narration, it becomes a mursal hadith of ash-Sha‘bi (i.e., with a missing link), and many other trustworthy narrators have followed Isma‘il in this irsal (omission). A mursal hadith is weak. However, in Sahih al-Bukhari, the narration of Abu Hurayrah (radi Allahu anhu), which the author has mentioned, is its authentic corroboration. Furthermore, the original hadith is established by other supporting evidences as well.

Explanation:
Note:
(For a detailed discussion on this hadith, see: (al-Da‘ifa No. 1038)