Is the Leftover Water of Free-Roaming Chickens Pure?

٣ - وَالثَّالِثُ: مَكْرُوهٌ اسْتِعْمَالُهُ مَعَ وُجُودِ غَيْرِهِ وَهُوَ سُؤْرُ الْهِرَّةِ وَالدَّجَاجَةِ الْمُخَلَّاةِ وَسِبَاعِ الطَّيْرِ كَالصَّقْرِ وَالشَّاهِينِ وَالحَدَأِ وَكَالْفَأْرَةِ لا الْعَقْرَبِ.

The third: disliked to use if other water is available (makrūh istiʿmāluh maʺ wujūd ghayrih) — it is the left-over of the cat, the free-roaming chicken, birds of prey such as the falcon, the hawk and the kite, and likewise the mouse — but not the scorpion.

Ruling (Ḥukm): The left-over of an animal whose meat is lawful to eat (mā’kūl al-laḥm) is, in principle, pure, since Hanafī fiqh establishes the su’r of mā’kūl al-laḥm animals as ṭāhir. However, the free-roaming chicken (al-dajājah al-mukhallah), which does not avoid impurity, has a left-over that — despite being pure — is makrūh tanzīhī (mildly disliked, not prohibited). If its beak is known with certainty to have touched impurity, its left-over becomes najis (impure); and if the purity of its beak is known with certainty, the dislike is removed as well.

Evidence (Dalīl):

— Nūr al-Īḍāḥ wa-Najāt al-Arwāḥ fī al-Fiqh al-Ḥanafī (نور الإيضاح ونجاة الأرواح في الفقه الحنفي), Bāb al-Ṭahārah, Faṣl fī Bayān Aḥkām al-Suʼur, pp. 14–15.