Mayta
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Mayta (Arabic: المیتة) or corpse refers to the dead body of a human being or an animal whose blood gushes out, whether it dies, it is killed or it is not slaughtered according to religion. In jurisprudence, there are rulings about corpses: najasa, prohibition of their meat, and buying, selling or using them.
Meaning
In Islamic jurisprudence, the dead body of a human being or an animal whose blood gushes out, is called mayta (corpse),[1] whether it dies, it is killed or it is not slaughtered according to religion. The term "mayta" is considered against the term "mudhakka" (literally, purified (slaughtered according to religion)).
Religious Effects
In jurisprudence, there are rulings about the corpses of animals whose blood gush out. These rulings do not apply to the corpse of animals whose blood does not gush out:
Najasa
Dead body is among ten types of najasa. The corpse of any human being or animal, religiously edible or non-edible, is najis. Najasa of such meat does not apply to the parts which do not have life such as wool, hairs, lint, feathers, bones, horn, beak, teeth, nails, claws, hooves and an egg the shell of which has become hard, whether they are from a permissible or religiously non-edible animal. However, all the parts of intrinsic najis animals (dogs and pigs) are najis, even if they are lifeless. Also, if any lifeless part separates from human beings or animals, they are considered as Mayta and najis.[2]
Meat, fat or leather sold in the market of Muslims are pure, but if they are imported from non-Islamic lands or markets, they are pure only if there is a possibility that they have observed their purity, but they are considered najis if there is knowledge that their purity has not been observed.
Religiously non-edible animals, other than dogs and pigs which are intrinsically najis can undergo tadhkiya (be slaughtered according to religion) and doing so, their meat and skin become pure.[3] However, according to the view of Ayatollah Makarim, an animal whose blood gushes out is najis if it dies by itself, but if it is slaughtered with a non-religious method, it is pure but the recommended caution requires avoiding it. About the corpses, purity of bones and the part of the nails or horns which have life, i.e. they ache when they are injured, has a problem.[4] Also, if the original substance of gelatin made of the bones of a religiously non-edible animals (other than dogs and pigs) or an animal which has not been slaughtered according to religion, receives many changes in the process of becoming gelatin, it is considered to have undergone a transformation and thus it is considered pure and permissible.[5]
The dead body of a human is najis before the ghusl of the dead body. However, there is a disagreement among jurists about its najasa since the time of death until the body becomes cold.[6]
Impermissibility of the Meat
Eating a dead body's meat is forbidden. The meat of religiously edible animals becomes permissible after tadhkiya (being slaughtered according to religion); but the meat of religiously non-edible animals does not become permissible after tadhkiya. The meat of permissible meat animals whose blood does not gush out (such as fish) is pure but not permissible to eat if they die by themselves.[7] In the Qur'an 5:3, eating the meat of animals which do not undergo tadhkiya (slaughtered according to religion) is considered forbidden.
Prohibition of Buying, Selling and Using
According to the views of jurists, buying, selling or using the corpse of an animal whose blood gushes out and also those parts of them which have life is forbidden either alone or mixed with (the parts of) an animal which has undergone tadhkiya, due to being najis.[8] Some jurists consider using the corpse permissible in the situations purity is not required.[9] Some of them consider buying or selling najis parts permissible if there is a rational though forbidden benefit involved.[10]
See Also
Notes
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 58-60.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 58, 59.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 150; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 36, p. 192-201.
- ↑ Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil (muḥashā), vol. 1, p. 70.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd, vol. 1, p. 70.
- ↑ Anṣārī, Kitāb al-ṭahara, vol. 5, p. 44-45; Ḥakīm, Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 336.
- ↑ Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil (muḥashā), vol. 2, p. 568-569.
- ↑ Anṣārī, al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama wa al-bayʿ wa al-khiyārāt, vol. 1, p. 31.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 62-63.
- ↑ Yathribī, Madārij al-fiqhiyya al-makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 1, p. 48, 80.
References
- Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. Kitāb al-ṭahara. 1st edition. Qom: Kungira-yi Jahānī-yi Buzurgdāsht-i Shaykh Anṣārī, 1415 AH.
- Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama wa al-bayʿ wa al-khiyārāt. 1st edition. Qom: Kungira-yi Jahānī-yi Buzurgdāsht-i Shaykh Anṣārī, 1415 AH.
- Banī Hāshimī Khomeinī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil (muḥashā). Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1414 AH.
- Ḥakīm, Muḥsin. Mustamsak al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisat Dār al-Tafāsīr, 1416 AH.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Istiftāʾāt-i jadīd. 2nd edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Madrisa-yi Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, 1427 AH.
- Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. 7th edition. Edited by ʿAbbās Qūchānī and ʿAlī Ākhūndī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī, Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā fīmā taʿummu bih al-balwā. Second edition. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1409 AH.
- Yathribī, Sayyid Muḥammad. Madārij al-fiqhiyya al-makāsib al-muḥarrama. 1st edition. [n.p]: 1428 AH.