al-Tahara (Matbu within Muallafat al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, al-Juz al-Thalith)
- Author died
- 1206 AH
- Editions
- Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University
al-Tahara (also known as Kitab al-Tahara or Kitab Ahkam al-Tahara) is a treatise on Islamic legal purity by the Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1206 AH / 1792 CE) .
Scope and Structure
The book addresses the legal rulings governing ritual purification within Islamic jurisprudence . It opens by defining purity (al-tahara) according to three aspects: purification from impure substances (al-a'yan al-najisa), purification from corrupt deeds (al-a'mal al-khabitha), and purification from ritual states that prevent worship (al-a'mal al-mani'a), citing Quranic proof-texts for each category . It then provides the standard technical legal definition of tahara as the lifting of ritual impurity, what falls within its meaning, and the removal of physical filth .
The treatise covers the practical chapters of ritual cleanliness in fiqh, including:
- Categories and legal rulings of water (al-miyah)
- Utensils and vessels (al-aniya)
- Cleansing after relieving oneself (al-istinja')
- Minor ablution (al-wudu') and wiping over footgear (al-mash)
- Major ritual bath (al-ghusl) and dry ablution (al-tayammum)
- Menstruation and postnatal bleeding (al-hayd wa-al-nifas)
Methodology and Attribution
The text is counted among Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's writings dedicated to serving the Hanbali school of law . In establishing its attribution, editors relied on a manuscript preserved in the Saudi Library in Riyadh cataloged under number 86/520, noting that its prose and style conform closely to the author's other writings, particularly through its recurrent citation of the legal choices and preferences of Ibn Taymiyya .
Publication History
The treatise was printed for the first time as a 43-page work within the compendium Mu'allafat al-Shaykh al-Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab by Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh (1400 AH / 1980 CE), edited and corrected by Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Atram and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Razzaq al-Duwaysh . In this collection, it was placed in the jurisprudence (fiqh) section alongside the author's other introductory legal treatises on prayer and its conditions .
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