Using wet wipes to remove impurity from smooth surfaces

21-10-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Please, can you advise if multi-purpose cleaning wipes can be used to clean impurities on smooth surfaces such as wardrobes, doors, handles, tables, and so on, because in this day and age, a lot of people use these? Is this method regarded pure? What about furnishings with pores? These are wet wipes that are antibacterial and kill germs. May Allaah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If you mean cleaning these objects from dust and the like, then there is no harm in using these wipes for this purpose, but if you mean purifying them from an impurity that may be on them, then the scholars differed in opinion regarding glazed (smooth) surfaces and whether or not they become pure by wiping them.

Ibn Taymiyyah said, "It is for this reason that according to one of the two opinions of the scholars, they permitted wiping and not washing glazed objects like a sword and a mirror if they are stained with an impurity."

Based on this opinion, there is no harm in using these wipes to purify glazed (smooth) surfaces, especially if it is feared that washing them would ruin them. As regards objects that have pores, then if they become impure, it is obligatory to purify them by washing them with pure water. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 331840.

Allaah knows best.