Your Questions Answered (volume 4)

Q 40: Use of Toilet Paper

Can we use toilet paper instead of water when we go for passing urine?

A. Paper may be used for cleaning stool but not for urine. If you are unable to use water for "Taharat" of urine, then you may use paper to make your body completely dry. Thus, at least, your cloth will not be unclean. Then, when conditions permit you must make your body "Tahir" (cleanse it); otherwise your prayer will not be valid.

Q. 41: CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF SEMEN

Someone's penis is tainted with a colourless liquid. Is it "Mani" (semen)? Is Ghusl-e- Janabat wajib in this case?

A. Not every liquid is 'Mani' (semen). For a healthy person there are three characteristics to identify mani;

  1. It comes out when he is sexually aroused.

  2. It comes out with force and

  3. the body becomes a bit fatigued after its ejaculation. Also, the 'Mani' smells like yeast.

If these features are found, then it is "Mani", and Ghusl will be wajib (compulsory).

Q42: MOISTURE SECRETED IN WOMAN

Is Moisture secreted from a woman when she has sexual excitement (without sexual intercourse) najis? If it is najis is there Ghusl-e-Janabat for it? A. No. It is not Najis, and compulsory bath (Ghusl) is not necessary.

Q 43: VAGINAL CHECKING

An expectant woman goes for general checking every month. The midwife inserts her finger inside her sexual passage wearing rubber gloves. Has that woman to perform 'Ghusl' before praying Namaz?

A. No There is no need to perform Ghusl. Of course, if the skin of the body has become Najis because of Najis medicine or by touch of Najis hands or gloves, then she should only make that part Tahir in the usual way.

Q 44: ARE PERFUMES, LOTIONS ETC. TAHIR?

Whether the English and other foreign products of perfume, shaving lotion, hair lotion, spray and similar products containing spirit and alconol are permitted for use? And are they not Najis?

A. All foreign perfumes, shaving lotion, hair lotion/spray and all such products containing spirit/alcohol, are permitted for use, and are not Najis provided you are not aware that the spirit or alcohol contained in it is intoxicating.

Q 45: RULINGS ON INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL

The late Agha Seyyid Mohsin Al-Hakim had given the ruling that industrial alcohol is Najis. I hear that Agha Seyyid Abul Qasim Al-Khoui has given the ruling that it is Tahir. Is it correct?

A. Yes. Agha Seyyid Mohsin Al-Hakim (r.a.) gave a ruling that industrial alcohol was Najis, even if one did not know that it was made of Najis things. Now, Agha-e-Al-Khoui has been told by many chemists that absolute alcohol (i.e. having less than one percent water) in itself is not intoxicating; it only intoxicates when it is mixed with some other liquids.

Acting on this information, Agha-e-Al-Khoui has said that alcohol in itself is not Najis; but when it is mixed with other liquids and creates intoxication then that liquid is najis.

Q 46: MEDICINES CONTAINING ALCOHOL

There are a lot of substitute drugs containing alcohol. What do you suggest for them? A. According to the Fatwa of Ayatullah Khoui, "alcohol" itself is not Najis, because it is not in itself an intoxicant. It intoxicates when it is mixed with some other liquids. And it is then that it becomes Najis. Accordingly, a drug which contains alcohol, but does not intoxicate, is not Najis.

Q 47: SKULL OF MAN

Is the skull of a dead man Najis? In Biology Lab we touch man's skull. If it is Najis is it wajib to (i.e. Ghusl-e-Mase-mayyit)?

A. Yes, Ghusl of Mas-e-Mayyit becomes Wajib, if one touches the body or the bone of a dead person after the body has become cold (and, in the case of a Muslim's dead body, after it has cold and before Ghusl-e-Meyyit has been given). If he/she touches it in the night, Ghusl-e-Masse-Mayyit should be performed before morning prayers (If because of unbearable cold or illness one is unable to perform this Ghusl even with hot water, tayammum should be done in its place).

Q 48: DOG AS A PET

Can we keep dog as a pet? What should one do if the dog smells him?

A. A dog may be kept for herding the sheep or cattle, guarding the house, garden or farm, or to help in hunting lawful animals. But such a dog should not be allowed to wander freely into the house in order that it may not touch clothes or utensils etc.

If a dog smells someone, there is no harm. But if it touches either the person when the cloth or that part of body or his cloth is wet, then will be Najis.

Q 49: PRAYER IN A CLOTH WASHED BY A NON-MUSLIM?

We send our clothes to 'dhobi' for washing because I don't know how to wash. But the dhobi is Hindu. Now can we pray with those clothes? We don't have any alternative A. No. You should keep some tahir clothes for prayer.

If you put the cloth under running or Kur water and leave it there till water runs through it, then after rinsing it (so that water is squeezed out) it will become Tahir. If you are using still water which is less than a Kur, then you should rinse it twice.