Taharah in the Maliki School: Distinctive Positions

The Maliki school's approach to taharah has several distinctive features that reflect both its close connection to the practice of Madinah and Imam Malik's careful weighing of the prophetic texts. Understanding these positions allows students to appreciate the breadth of the Sunni scholarly tradition and the legitimate differences that exist within it.

On the classification of water, the Maliki school is more lenient than the Shafi'i school regarding the two-qullah threshold. The Maliki school does not recognize a specific volume threshold below which water automatically becomes impure upon contact with any impurity. Rather, any water — regardless of quantity — remains pure until one of its characteristics (color, smell, or taste) actually changes due to the impurity. This position, based on the Prophet's saying 'Water is pure and nothing makes it impure' (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi), is more permissive than the Shafi'i position and in some respects similar to the Hanafi view.

On musta'mal water (water used for purification), the Maliki school holds that such water remains both pure and capable of purifying — unlike the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools which hold it cannot be used for a second purification. The Maliki reasoning is that the hadith does not establish the impurity of water that has been used for wudu, and the general principle of water's purity applies unless there is a specific text removing it.

For wudu, the Maliki school lists seven obligatory elements: the intention (with the specification that it must be at the beginning and maintained throughout); washing the face; washing the arms to the elbows; wiping the head (the entire head, as in the Hanbali school — not merely part of it as the Shafi'i school holds); wiping the ears as part of the head; washing the feet; and continuity (muwalat — performing the acts without unreasonable break). The Maliki school does not require order (tartib) between the acts of wudu as an obligation — unlike the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools.

A notable Maliki ruling is that rinsing the mouth and nose are not obligatory in wudu — they are confirmed sunnahs. This is closer to the Hanafi position than to the Hanbali. On the wiping of the head, the Maliki school requires wiping the entire head (both forward and backward strokes) with fresh water for the returning stroke — a detail that differs from the Hanafi position of using the same water for both strokes.

The Maliki school's position on blood as an impurity is notable: the school distinguishes between small amounts of blood that are excused for prayer purposes and large amounts that are not. Similarly, the school excuses small amounts of other impurities on clothing or the body when they are difficult to completely avoid — a leniency based on the principle of removing hardship.

On ghusl, the Maliki school lists two obligatory elements: the intention and washing the entire body including the hair. Unlike the Hanbali school, rinsing the mouth and nose is not considered obligatory in ghusl — they are strongly recommended but not fard. The school adds the obligation of rubbing (dalk) — actively rubbing the skin with the hand during ghusl — as a necessary element for the ghusl to be complete. This rubbing requirement is a distinctively Maliki position based on the understanding that the Prophet's ghusl practice included active washing, not merely passive pouring of water.