Taharah in the Maliki School

Al-Kharshi's commentary on the taharah sections of Mukhtasar Khalil reveals the Maliki school's distinctive approach to purification, which in several key respects differs from the other three schools. The Maliki tradition draws heavily on the practice of the people of Medina as transmitted through the generations, alongside the explicit hadith evidence.

Water classification in the Maliki school uses a simpler binary framework than the Shafi'i school's four categories. Water is either tahur (pure and purifying) or najis (impure). The Maliki school does not have a 'musta'mal' category that prevents used water from purifying again — water used in wudu or ghusl remains pure and purifying. This reflects Imam Malik's approach of not adding legal restrictions beyond what is clearly established in the texts.

For small quantities of water, the Maliki school is notably lenient: a small amount of water that has been contaminated by a tiny amount of impurity that does not change the water's characteristics is still considered pure. This is based on Imam Malik's understanding that the prophetic hadiths prohibiting the urination in still water (al-Bukhari, Muslim) are concerned with the practical degradation of water quality, not the creation of an abstract legal category of ritual impurity.

Wudu in the Maliki school has seven obligatory acts: (1) intention — which must be present at the start of washing the face and maintained throughout the wudu; (2) washing the face including rinsing the mouth and nose (a distinctive Maliki position making madmadah and istinshaq obligatory in wudu, unlike the other schools); (3) wiping the entire head — the Maliki school uniquely requires wiping the full head and the ears with the wet hands used for head-wiping; (4) washing the arms; (5) washing the feet; (6) sequence (tartib); and (7) continuity (muwalah) — not allowing the previous member to dry before washing the next, a uniquely emphasized Maliki condition.

The nullifiers of wudu in the Maliki school include the standard exit from the two passages, loss of consciousness, and touching the private parts. The Maliki school's position on touching a woman differs from the Shafi'i school: in the Maliki school, touching a woman with desire nullifies wudu, but touching without desire does not. This middle position (between the Shafi'i school's 'any touch' and the Hanbali school's 'sexual arousal') is grounded in Maliki principles of relating rules to their underlying causes.

Ghusl in the Maliki school requires: intention, rinsing the entire body including the mouth and nose (both obligatory in Maliki ghusl, as in wudu), and continuity. The Maliki school uniquely makes the continuation of the intention throughout ghusl a condition of validity.

For najasah, al-Kharshi presents the Maliki position that dog saliva is najis and the contaminated vessel must be washed, but the seven-wash requirement with earth is specific to vessels used for drinking or food — ordinary contact with a wet dog does not trigger this rigorous purification protocol according to the dominant Maliki view. This represents a slightly more lenient position than the Shafi'i school on dog impurity.