Q.1. As a group of new Muslims we want to know what is the Islamic concept of impurity? We are raising this question because we know a person who once carried a bottle of wine in his pocket while praying. Maybe he did not do it intentionally. Intentional or not, is his prayer valid?

Q.2 Why should we love the Prophet more than we love our parents?

A. Efondo

A.1. The answer to this question depends on the view we take to the type of impurity we attach to all intoxicating drinks including wine. God describes wines in the Qur’an as impure, but the majority of scholars consider this impurity to be abstract, in the same sense as unbelievers are described as impure. Should we shake hands with an unbeliever, we do not have to wash our hands like we must do when an impurity falls on them. This is because such impurity is abstract. Alcohol is impure in the same sense. As such a person carrying a wine bottle in his pocket while praying is not carrying a physical impurity. Hence, his prayer is valid although he is committing something forbidden at the same time. The two actions are considered separately.

On the other hand, if we consider wine to be a physical impurity, as some scholars do, then the man’s prayer is invalid, because an essential condition for the validity of prayer is to ensure the purity of one’s body, clothes and the place where we are praying.

Having said that, there is a third way to consider this question. If the man knows the way Islam looks at alcoholic drinks and still carries a wine bottle in his pocket as he stands to pray, his action mocks his prayer. He may be considered a hypocrite, although only God knows what is in people’s hearts. God does not accept any apparently good deed done by a hypocrite.

That said, I would like to add that in the past students of Islamic Fiqh indulged in trying to answer hypothetical questions of this sort. Their action was not welcomed by scholars, because a scholar should concentrate on practicalities, not hypothetical questions that may never arise.

A.2. Everyone of us is indebted to the Prophet for having delivered God’s message complete and shown us the way to earn God’s pleasure and to achieve admission into heaven. As such, he has done everyone of us the greatest favor we may ever have. In return, it is a mark of true faith that we should love him more than we love our parents, children and our own souls.