Taharah in Al-Iqna: Hanbali Purification Law

Al-Hajjawi presents the Hanbali school's purification law in Al-Iqna with the clarity and precision appropriate for an intermediate-level text that is both educational and practical. The school's positions on water, ablution, ghusl, and tayammum are presented as settled rulings grounded in the prophetic practice.

The Hanbali school's treatment of water begins with the two-qullah threshold. Water less than two qullahs in volume becomes impure if any physical impurity falls into it, regardless of whether its perceptible qualities change. Al-Hajjawi presents this as the Hanbali position, derived from the prophetic report 'When water reaches two qullahs it carries no impurity.' This threshold distinguishes the Hanbali (and Shafi'i) approach from the Maliki approach, which uses change in perceptible qualities as the criterion regardless of volume.

Wudu' in Al-Iqna follows the Hanbali school's obligatory elements: washing the face (including the mouth and nose, which the Hanbali school treats as part of the face for this purpose), washing the arms to and including the elbows, wiping the entire head (including the ears), and washing the feet to and including the ankles. Al-Hajjawi notes the Hanbali requirement that the mouth and nose be included in washing the face as a fard element — a distinctive Hanbali position that aligns with the Hanafi school on this specific point.

The Hanbali school's sunnah acts in wudu' include: beginning with the Basmala, using the miswak (tooth-stick), washing the hands up to the wrists before beginning the ablution, rinsing the mouth and nostrils (before face-washing, as the Hanbali school treats them as part of the face rather than separate acts), running the fingers through the beard, running fingers between the fingers and toes, and beginning each act with the right side.

Ghusl in Al-Iqna requires intention and complete washing of the entire body. The Hanbali school — unlike the Hanafi school — does not classify rinsing the mouth and nostrils as separate obligatory elements of ghusl distinct from the overall requirement to wash the body; rather, the mouth and nose are part of the body that must be washed. Al-Hajjawi presents the complete method of ghusl as an integrated act.

Tayammum in Al-Iqna is permitted when water is unavailable or when its use would cause harm. The Hanbali school requires striking clean earth (or something with the qualities of earth) twice: once for the face, once for the hands to the wrists. Al-Hajjawi notes that the earth must be clean and that the face and hands must be completely covered in the striking — both requirements reflecting the Hanbali school's attention to prophetic specifications.

The najasah (ritual impurity) section of Al-Iqna covers the major categories of impurity and their purification. The Hanbali school's position on dog saliva requires sevenfold washing, one with earth — consistent with the Shafi'i school and different from the Maliki and Hanafi positions. Al-Hajjawi presents this as the established Hanbali position based on the prophetic hadith on washing containers touched by dogs.

The practical value of Al-Iqna's taharah chapters lies precisely in their clarity and usability. Students who mastered this material had a reliable foundation for the more detailed analysis they would later encounter in Kashshaf al-Qina, and practitioners could use Al-Iqna directly as a guide to Hanbali purification rulings.