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Does a Muslim's hand become impure if it touches an unbeliever when the hand is moist, based on the fact that an unbeliever is impure according to the text of the Holy Qur'an?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars hold that the impurity of a disbeliever is spiritual, not physical. Thus, they are pure even after death. A human being does not become impure by death, whether Muslim or disbeliever, because Allah Almighty says: ﴿And We have certainly honored the children of Adam﴾. The concept of honoring dictates that they are not to be deemed impure by death. As for Allah Almighty's statement: ﴿Indeed, the polytheists are unclean﴾, what is meant here is the impurity of belief, not the impurity of their bodies. Therefore, touching a disbeliever or shaking their wet hand does not take the ruling of touching something impure.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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