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Is it obligatory to wash an impure garment with water, or is it sufficient to remove the impurity with any remover?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Many scholars believe that impurities can only be purified with water, similar to the purification from ritual impurity (hadath). However, Imam Abu Hanifa and Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah hold the view that impurities may be purified with any pure liquid that removes the impurity, such as "vinegar and the like," and this is the more preponderant opinion. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen issued a fatwa stating that removing impurity is not an act of worship in itself. Thus, anything that removes the substance of the impurity and its trace is considered a purifier, whether it be water, gasoline, or even the sun and wind, and the place returns to its original state of purity. Accordingly, steam that removes impurity is considered a purifier.

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

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