Taharah in Maraqi al-Falah: Evidential Basis for Purification

Maraqi al-Falah's treatment of taharah expands the concise rulings of Nur al-Idah with the evidential basis and reasoning that the beginning student needs to understand why Hanafi purification law is structured as it is. Ash-Shurunbulali cites the relevant hadiths, explains the Hanafi interpretation of each, and where necessary addresses the positions of other schools to clarify what is distinctive about the Hanafi approach.

The opening discussion of water cites the Quranic verse 'He sent down water from the sky to purify you by it' (8:11) as the foundational evidence that water is the primary means of purification in Islamic law. The prophetic hadith 'Water is pure and nothing makes it impure unless it changes in taste, color, or smell' (Abu Dawud, Al-Nasa'i, Al-Tirmidhi) establishes the default purity of water and the criterion for when it becomes impure.

For musta'mal (used) water's status as tahir but not tahur, ash-Shurunbulali presents the Hanafi argument: the Prophet's wudu was performed in a small basin, and the Companions would then take the remaining water to use for blessings — suggesting the water retained some positive quality but was no longer appropriate for further obligatory purification. The Hanafi position prevents an infinite regress of purification: if used water could purify again, one could theoretically keep reusing the same water indefinitely, which contradicts the spirit of purification as removing impurity rather than merely passing it on.

The obligatory mouth-rinsing (madmadah) and nose-rinsing (istinshaq) in wudu are supported by the hadiths describing the Prophet's wudu, particularly the detailed description in Sunan Abu Dawud by 'Ali ibn Abi Talib in which mouth-rinsing and nose-rinsing are listed as acts of wudu. Ash-Shurunbulali notes the Hanafi understanding that the Quranic command to wash the face encompasses these acts, since the inside of the mouth and the inside of the nose are functionally part of the face's purification.

The one-quarter head-wiping requirement is explained with reference to the Arabic 'ba'' in the Quranic verse 'wamsahu bi ru'usikum' — the 'ba'' (meaning 'with') indicates partial application rather than the full application that a simple genitive would suggest. This grammatical argument, combined with the hadiths describing the Prophet wiping different portions of his head, grounds the Hanafi minimum of one-quarter.

The chapter on the sleeping person and wudu addresses the practical question most students ask: does sleeping nullify wudu? Ash-Shurunbulali explains the Hanafi analysis: sleeping while sitting with a stable posture does not nullify wudu, because the prophetic permission for sleeping in such a position without subsequent wudu is established. Sleeping lying down or in a posture where gas emission is likely does nullify wudu — not because of the sleep itself but because of the high probability that ritual purity was lost during it. This evidential account is grounded in the hadith 'Wudu is required of one who sleeps' (Abu Dawud) and its reconciliation with reports of the Companions sleeping during prayer waits without being ordered to repeat wudu.