The Ruling on the Purity of the Water of Bi’r Budha‘ah
Source: Fatawa Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
An objection is raised that in the time of the Prophet ﷺ, ablution was performed with water from Bi’r Budha‘ah, while impure things used to fall into it. What is the reality of this?
Answer:
Sayyiduna Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri رضي الله عنه narrates:
“Someone asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: Can we perform ablution from the well called Bi’r Budha‘ah, while menstrual cloths, dog meat, and filth are thrown into it? He ﷺ replied:
الماء طهور لا ينجسه شيء
(Water is pure; nothing makes it impure.)
(Musnad Ahmad: 3/31, Sunan Abi Dawud: 66, Sunan al-Nasa’i: 326, Sunan al-Tirmidhi: 66 — chain Hasan)
- Imam al-Tirmidhi رحمه الله graded it Hasan (and in some copies Hasan Sahih).
- Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله and Imam Ibn al-Jarud رحمه الله declared it Sahih.
- Imam al-Nawawi رحمه الله said: “This Hadith is Sahih; the Hadith masters authenticated it.” (Khulasat al-Ahkam: 1/66)
- Hafiz Ibn al-Mulaqqin رحمه الله: “After research, the conclusion is that this Hadith is absolutely authentic, as earlier Imams such as al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma‘in, and al-Hakim declared it authentic.” (al-Badr al-Munir: 1/387)
- Hafiz al-Dhahabi رحمه الله graded its chain Hasan. (Tanqih al-Tahqiq: 1/15)
- Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Khattabi, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Daqiq al-‘Id, and many other scholars also accepted it as a reliable Hadith.
Explanation by the Scholars:
- This Hadith is general, but it does not include cases where the impurity changes the color, smell, or taste of the water — in that case, all scholars agree the water becomes impure.
- If the water is less than two Qullahs, it becomes impure upon impurity mixing into it — according to Imams Shafi‘i, Ahmad, and many others. Imam Malik and some others said the Hadith of Bi’r Budha‘ah applies only to large bodies of water, such as that well, in which impurities do not cause any change.
Hafiz al-Khattabi رحمه الله clarified that no Muslim at that time would intentionally throw filth into water. The well was in a low-lying area where rainwater would wash dirt and waste into it. Since it contained a large quantity of water, impurities did not affect its purity. Therefore, the Companions asked the Prophet ﷺ about it, and he clarified: “Water is pure; nothing makes it impure.”
This Hadith is not contradictory to the Hadith of Qullatayn, because Bi’r Budha‘ah contained water far more than two Qullahs. The two narrations complement each other: the general meaning of this Hadith is specified by the Hadith of Qullatayn.
