Taharah: Purification in the Hanafi School

Al-Marghinani opens Al-Hidayah with the topic of taharah (ritual purification), as is universal among Islamic legal manuals. His treatment reflects the Hanafi school's distinctive approach: systematic reasoning from general principles, careful attention to the opinions of the founding scholars of the school (Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad ash-Shaybani), and engagement with the evidential basis for each ruling.

The Hanafi school distinguishes water into two main categories: pure and purifying (tahur), and impure (najis). Used water — water that has been used for an obligatory ritual washing — is considered pure (tahir) but no longer capable of purifying in the Hanafi school's dominant position, though the school does permit its use in situations of necessity. Small bodies of water (less than ten by ten cubits in surface area) become impure when any najasah falls into them regardless of whether the water's properties change. Large bodies of water become impure only when their properties visibly change. This threshold approach is one of the practical distinctions of the Hanafi school from the Shafi'i threshold of two qullahs by volume.

Wudu in the Hanafi school has four obligatory acts (fard): washing the face once, washing the hands and forearms to the elbows once, wiping a quarter of the head, and washing the feet to the ankles once. The requirement to wipe only a quarter of the head — established by the Hanafi school based on its analysis of the Quranic particle 'ba' in the verse as indicating partiality — is one of the most distinctive Hanafi positions on wudu. The Maliki and Hanbali schools require wiping the whole head; the Shafi'i school holds that any portion suffices.

Al-Hidayah presents the Hanafi list of wudu nullifiers carefully: anything exiting from either private part, vomiting a mouthful or more, loss of consciousness through sleep lying down or sleep standing (but not sleep in a supported sitting position, which the Hanafi school holds does not nullify wudu based on the practice of the Companions), and any bleeding — not merely from the private parts — that flows beyond the wound. This last point is a distinctive Hanafi position: the Shafi'i and Maliki schools do not consider bleeding from the body (other than private parts) a nullifier of wudu.

Ghusl (major purification) in the Hanafi school requires three obligatory acts: rinsing the mouth (madmadah), clearing the nostrils (istinshaq), and washing the entire body. Rinsing the mouth and nostrils are obligatory in ghusl for the Hanafi school — a position shared with the Hanbali school but not the Shafi'i school, which considers them obligatory in wudu but recommended in ghusl.

Tayammum in the Hanafi school requires two strikes of clean earth: one wiping the face and one wiping the hands and forearms to the elbows. This contrasts with the Shafi'i position of two strikes (face and hands to the wrists). Al-Marghinani grounds this in the hadith: 'Tayammum is two strikes: one for the face and one for the hands to the elbows' (Abu Dawud). Tayammum in the Hanafi school remains valid until its nullifiers occur or water becomes available — it is not limited to a single prayer time as in the Shafi'i school.

Throughout the taharah chapter, al-Marghinani cites the opinions of Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad ash-Shaybani where they differ from each other, providing insight into the internal development of the school's positions.