76 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maslamah narrated to us: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us, from Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Dīnār al-Tammār, from his mother, that her mistress sent her with some harīsah to ʿĀ’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her. She found her praying, so she gestured to her to put it down. Then a cat came and ate from it. When she finished her prayer, she ate from the place where the cat had eaten, and said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'It is not impure; it is merely one of those that go around among you.' And I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ perform ablution with its leftover water."

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This contains evidence that the leftover water of every creature pure in itself—whether beasts of prey, livestock, or birds—is pure, even if its flesh is not eaten. Al-Tirmidhī (92) said: This is the view of most scholars among the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, the Successors, and those after them, such as al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq. No one reported any objection to the leftover water of a cat. It is also the view of Abū Yūsuf and Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Abū Ḥanīfah, however, said: Rather, it is impure like a beast of prey, but leniency was granted in it, so its leftover water is disliked.

The author of *Bidhl al-Majhūd* commented on Abū Ḥanīfah's statement (1/201): Its meaning is not that it is impure along with being disliked, but rather that it was originally impure, just as is the ruling on the leftover water of a dog and all beasts of prey, except that leniency was granted in it due to the reason of their going around [among people]. Thus the impurity was lifted, and the dislike remained.

(1) The marfūʿ portion of it is ṣaḥīḥ through other witnesses, and performing ablution with the leftover water of a cat is ḥasan through its chains. This chain is weak: the mother of Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Tammār was noted by al-Dhahabī in *al-Mīzān*, and he mentioned no narrator from her other than her son Dāwūd. Al-Mizzī did not include her in *Tahdhīb al-Kamāl*, even though she meets his criteria. Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ is ṣadūq. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz is Ibn Muḥammad al-Darāwardī.

It was also narrated by Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh in his *Musnad* (1003 and 1030), al-Ṭaḥāwī in *Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār* (2653 and 2654), al-Ṭabarānī in *al-Awsaṭ* (7949), al-Dāraquṭnī (216), Abū Nuʿaym in *al-Ḥilyah* 9/308, and al-Bayhaqī 1/246, via ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Darāwardī with this chain. Some of them do not mention the story of ʿĀ’ishah and restrict it to performing ablution with the leftover water of the cat.