A Shoe Was Taken Out of a Well: What Is the Ruling on Its Water?

Question

There is a well at a mosque. Its mud was cleared out after six or seven years, [and] this year it dried up completely. But in the meantime, whenever it became impure from time to time, its water used to be drained. Out of it came one completely rotten shoe, in two or three pieces. Now, according to the noble Shari‘a, has any kind of defect occurred in the prayers that were performed? Or is there any ruling of impurity or the like for the mosque? If there is, kindly write it so that we may act accordingly.

Answer

If the shoe was impure, then the well also became impure because of it, and the well will be called impure from the very time the shoe was seen in the well; there is no need to repeat the prayers, wudu and ghusl [performed] before that. The mosque’s water jug and the like are not impure at all either.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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