Clearing The Male Urethra Of Urine (istibra)

Ruling 69. Istibrāʾ is a recommended (mustaḥabb) act performed by men after urinating in order to be confident that no urine is left in the urethra. It is performed in a number of ways; one way is as follows: after urinating, the anus is first purified if it has become impure; then, the middle finger of the left hand is slid three times from the anus up to the scrotum; then, the thumb is placed on the penis, and the forefinger is placed under the penis, and the thumb and forefinger are pulled three times along the penis up to the point of circumcision; finally, the end of the penis is pressed three times.

Ruling 70. The fluid that sometimes comes out of the penis due to sexual arousal, called ‘madhī’, is pure. The fluid that sometimes comes out after the ejaculation of semen, called ‘wadhī’, is also pure. As for fluid that sometimes comes out after urinating and which is called ‘wadī’, it is pure if it has not come into contact with urine. Furthermore, in the event that a man performs istibrāʾ after urinating and then fluid comes out and he doubts whether it is urine or one of these three fluids, it is pure.

Ruling 71. If a man doubts whether he has performed istibrāʾ or not and fluid comes out and he does not know whether it is pure or not, it is impure; and in the event that he performed wuḍūʾ, his wuḍūʾ becomes void (bāṭil). However, if a man doubts whether the istibrāʾ he performed was correct or not and fluid comes out and he is unsure whether it is pure or not, it is pure and it does not invalidate his wuḍūʾ either.

Ruling 72. If someone who has not performed istibrāʾ becomes confident that no urine is left in the urethra due to the passing of time since he urinated, and if he then sees some fluid and doubts whether it is pure or not, that fluid is pure and it does not invalidate his wuḍūʾ either.

Ruling 73. If a man performs istibrāʾ after urinating and then performs wuḍūʾ, in the event that after wuḍūʾ he sees fluid that he knows to be either urine or semen, it is obligatory that as a precaution he perform ghusl as well as wuḍūʾ. However, if he had not performed wuḍūʾ, it is sufficient for him to perform wuḍūʾ only.

Ruling 74. There is no istibrāʾ for women after urinating; if a woman sees fluid and doubts whether it is urine or not, it is pure and it does not invalidate her wuḍūʾ or ghusl.

10. Istibra (40) Of An Excrement-eating Animal

Ruling 219. The urine and faeces of an animal that habitually eats human excrement are impure. For the urine and faeces of such an animal to be considered pure, the animal must be put through a process of istibrāʾ, meaning that it must be prevented from eating impurity for some time and be fed pure food so that after that period, it is no longer considered an excrement-eating animal. The recommended precaution is to prevent an excrement-eating camel from eating excrement for forty days, a cow twenty days, a sheep ten days, a duck seven or five days, and a domestic hen three days, even if before these periods are over the animal in question ceases to be considered an excrement-eating animal.