Fatwa ID: 08646

Answered by: Maulana Abdurrahman Mohammad

Question:

My mobile screen became Najis due to some impurity and it dried later leaving no marks. Later I wash my mobile with the running water of tap. During this process 2-3 drops seeped inside through the side casing due to high flow of the water. Now I am having doubt whether the water that seeps inside was pure or impure (i.e. whether the water that seeped inside was after the washing of impurity) as I have touched those water after opening the case considering it to be pure. Is going in such minute details good in such matter?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

We would apply the principle “certainty is not removed by doubt” (Al-Yaqeenu Laa Yazoolu Bish Shakk) in your situation. Unless you are 100% certain that the phone is impure or that impure drops have seeped through the casing, you may consider your phone to be clean and pure. If you are sure that impurity had seeped inside your phone, it is better to be safe and not pray with your phone in your pocket.

Note that impurity is excused if the cumulative spread of impurity (over your body, clothes, and all items on you or inside your pockets) is less than the size of a Dirham. The total amount of aggregate impurity should not exceed the area of a Dirham if it is liquid (5.94 cm) or the weight of a dirham (4.86 g) if it is solid.^[1] It is important to remember that you may purify smooth, nonporous surfaces (like phone screens) by simply wiping the impurity away with a dry, clean cloth. You may then use an alcohol wipe to disinfect your phone. Washing your phone under the tap would not be necessary.

(And if impurity gets on a mirror or a sword, it is sufficient to wipe them) with something that removes its traces, and the same applies to everything heavy that has no pores, such as glass, bone, painted utensils, and nails, because impurity does not enter them. And what is on its surface is removed by wiping.^[2]

References:

[1] [1] اگر پیشاب مخرج سے تجاوز کر گیا اور زائد کی مقدار ایک درہم (قطر = ۱۱.۱ نچ = ۲.۷۵ سینٹی میٹر اور کل پیمائش = ۱۰.۹۵ نچ = ۵.۹۴ سینٹی میٹر) سے رائد نہیں ہوئ تو بغیر دھوئے صرف دھیلا استعمال کرلینے سے نماز ہوجائے گی، اور پاخانہ کا حکم یہ ہے کہ پتھر سے استنجا کر نیکے بعد اگر مخرج سے متجاوز نجاست کا وزن ایک مثقال (۵ ماشہ = ۴.۸۶ گرام) یا اس سے کم ہو تو نماز ہو جائیگی

(Ahsan Ul-Fatāwā, vol. 2, pg. 107, H.M. Saeed Company)

[2] (والنجاسة إذا أصابت المرآة أو السيف اكتفي بمسحهما) بما يزول به أثرها ومثلهما كل ثقيل لا مسام له؛ كزجاج وعظم وآنية مدهونة وظفر، لأنه لا يداخله النجاسة؛ وما على ظاهره يزول بالمسح.

(Al-Lubāb Fi Sharh Al-Kitāb, vol. 1, pg. 51, Al-Maktabah Al-‘Ilmiyyah)

Only Allah (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) knows best.

Written by Maulana Abdurrahman Mohammad

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham