Topic: Conditions of Purification (Taharah)

[As-Sunni]

The conditions of purification (taharah) are:

1. To be Muslim;
2. To be at the age of mental discrimination (mumayyiz);
3. To remove anything which prevents water from reaching the part to be washed;
4. To let the water flow on the part to be washed;
5. To use purifying water, i.e., water that has not changed by being mixed with a pure material, such as milk or ink, from which the water can be shielded. If the water changes because of its mixing with something in such a way that it is not called water anymore, then this water is not good for purification. However, if the water changes because of its mixing with things which are in its original place or its pathway or the like, and from which this water cannot be easily shielded, then this does not affect the purifying property of this water. Moreover, the water must not have changed because of its contact with a najas-filth even if the change was inappreciable. If the water was less than two qullahs,1 an unexempted najas-filth must not have contacted it even if it does not change the water, and it must not have been used already in clearing someone of a ritual impurity (hadath), and it must not have been used to remove a najas-filth.