Water Resources 1 All Rights Reserved with IFA Publications Name of the Book : Water Resources Translated by : Talha bin Ehtesham Pages : 245 Year of Publication : 201 4 Price : by : IFA Publications F-161 (Besment), Jogabai Jamia Nager, New Delhi-110025 2 Editing Committee: 1. Maulana Nematullah Azmi (Presedent) 2. Maulana Badrul Hasan Qasmi (Vice Presedent) 3. Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rehmani (General Secretary) 4. Maulana Ateeq Ahmed Bastawi (Sec. Academic) 5. Maulana Obaidullah Asadi (Sec. Seminar) 3 4 ﷲ ا ا In the Name of Allah the most Beneficent the most Merciful 5 6 Content Preface 13 Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings 15 Sharia Rulings on Water resources 19 Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings 22 (Maulana Safdar Zubair Nadvi) General guidelines pertaining to the use of water 23 Types of water 24 Sharia Ruling 25 Excessive use of water and sharia rulings in this 27 regard The definition of excess // Conditions of excess in using water 29 Excess in Ablution 30 Excess in Ghusl // Excess in Food and Drink // Descriptions of Sa’ and Mudd 31 Situations considered excess 32 Sharia opinion regarding excess 33 Sharia rulings to safeguard water against 36 contamination Detailed rulings about protecting water from 39 contamination Is the order to protect water from contamination 43 7 obligatory or ethical? Chemically treating dirty water 45 Some other views 52 The ruling on impure water under jurisprudential light 53 The government restricting the uses of water 55 Rights of ownership over water below one’s land 58 The issue of boring on owned land and compliance 62 with the state’s order Compliance is not necessary 64 The creation of water reserves and safeguarding them // Compliance to an order to safeguard water isn’t 67 necessary Relocation of populace for the construction of dams 68 The ruling for breaking or not breaking a dam in 73 defence Breaking the dam is permissible 75 The limit to benefitting from common water resources 77 Limits to utilizing a stream that passes through 82 The right to irrigate fields and concerned rulings 85 Conditions to the ownership of water 87 The issue of trading in water 89 Some other perspectives 91 The issue of making settlements in low lying areas 93 Conditional Permissibility 94 Justifications for allowing settlements // The supply of water is the state’s responsibility 96 The establishment of drainage is the state’s 99 responsibility 8 Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings (Questions: 1 to 5) 101 (Mufti Rashid Hussain Nadvi) Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings (Questions: 6 to 10) 115 (Mufti Zaheer Ahmad) Kanpuri) Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings (Questions: 11 to 16) 125 (Maulana Khursheed Anwar Azmi) Water Resources: Issues and solutions 135 (Maulana Khursheed Anwar Azmi) General guidelines in the sharia about the use of water: // The issue of excess in spending water 137 Sharia guidelines to protect water from contamination 139 On chemically treating water to make it usable 141 On the state restricting certain uses of water 144 Ownership of water on private land 145 On government orders to create water catchments in 146 one’s home Relocation of population to create cachements 147 The issue of breaking the dam to save oneself 148 The limit on using public sources of water 150 Benefit from streams crossing various areas 152 The issue of ownership of water // The issue of selling water 154 On populating ponds 156 The state’s responsibility with regard to providing 157 water to the population 9 The issue of drainage 159 Issues Related to Water Resources 160 (Mufti Rashid Hussain Nadvi) Profusion in using water 163 The prohibition of relieving oneself in water 165 Excessive spending of water // Polluting water is forbidden 167 Rulings regarding chemically filtered water 169 Government restrictions on certain uses of water 172 On privately held water // Whose responsibility is the supply of water? 174 On forcing people to relocate 176 The ruling regarding opening the dam // Limitations to using public water sources 178 Conditions to benefitting from rivers and other bodies 180 When does water become personal property // The rule regarding the sale ofwater // The rule regarding populations in low lying areas 181 Whose responsibility is the supply of water // The issue of drainage 183 Water resources and Sharia Rulings 184 (Maulana Rehmatullah Nadvi) Definitions of large and small amounts 188 The rule regarding impure water // Fifth type (Suspicious water) // Reason for suspicion // Impurity which can’t be seen 189 Non breathing organism // 10 Those water oraganisms that do not rely on blood 190 The types of water and their rulings 191 Types of water 192 Water in the first category // Second category 193 Third category 194 Fourth category 197 Rulings regarding the right to drink and other uses 198 The issue of deepening and maintaining streams 201 Public streams which are not owned by anybody 202 Streams which are owner in sharing or by a specific // community Privately owned streams // Sharia ruling regarding prodigiality in water // Imam Abu Yusuf’s opinion regarding the trade of 207 water The ruling regarding filtered urine 208 The ruling regarding filtered drain water 209 Permitted uses of the purified drainwater 210 Core transformations and the Fiqh Academy, India 212 The issue of plotting low lying areas // Sharia guidelines to protect water from contamination 213 Our co-operation with state obligations 215 Water Resources: The Sharia Perspective 223 (Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Nadvi) General guidelines in the sharia regarding the use of // water 225 وزة “ :The lexical meaning of “extaravagance” is 11 which means overstepping limits ” ا د ووزة ا د and moderation The sharia mentions the following rules to protect 228 water from contamination Prohibition of urinating and defecating in water // reserves The prohibition of inserting one’s hand into water righ 231 after awaking from sleep Covering the drinking utensil 232 Prohibition of breating into a utensil 233 Prohibition from putting the waterkin or other utensils // to the mouth ••• 12 Preface Air and water are the most important things for the existence of mankind, a constant supply of which is required in great quantity. In comparison to other planets a speciality of the planet Earth is that it has been supplied with oxygen in such bounteous quantities to suffice creatures everywhere and that its purification and supply is constantly undertaken. It is another matter altogether that man at times works towards harming this gift of nature; so much so that the West has now developed weapons which when used eliminate the supply of oxygen from the area targeted. After air the second most important need is of water. Be it sweet or saline, water in both forms is required by man. Sweet water quenches thirst for us and the production of fruits, flowers, vegetables and grains is linked to it. Even the animals from which we derive meat would not be able to live without water nor would they receive nutrition. The saline water that courses the seas absorbs pollutants from the land. This evaporation in the form of steam is the basis of cloud formation and after getting filtered by the atmosphere this steam changes into the sweet water that later pours back to the ground. In essence the conditions for life are so arranged in Allah’s innovative scheme that they are dependent on the presence of (Al Anbiya: 30) ’ َ و َ َ َ ِ َن َا ِء ُل َ ٍء ‘ :water The growing population and industries also require huge amounts of water. It is thus that the issue of water is 13 gaining importance on a national as well as international scale and it is estimated that any future wars will be fought over water. Another truth lies in the fact that water resources are being exploited at a very high rate. The present scenario also raises many questions pertaining to the issue of water. As Muslims, it then falls upon us to deliberate on these issues in the light of Islamic sharia and disseminate the extroversive lessons gained from doing so into the world. With this backdrop the Islamic Fiqh Academy, India organized its 20 th seminar at Rampur titled “Water Resources and Related Provisions”. Not only in India but perhaps in the entire world, this seminar was the first of its kind which analysed the topic at hand from every perspective. Even though this was a relatively unfamiliar topic it was especially joyous to witness practitioners and masters of jurisprudence taking to their pens in such large numbers and presenting their papers on the various dimensions of the issue. Summaries of the various papers were distributed; the writers presented their papers on the various aspects of the issue, time was allotted for discussions and the panel then ruminated and put forward its observations. These papers have now been completed by Talha bin Ehtesham and are presented to the readers for their perusal. I pray that Almighty Allah accepts this endeavour and other academic endeavours on the academy’s part as Sadqah Jariah on behalf of the founder و ھو ا ن .Maulana Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasmi Khalid Saifullah Rahmani (General Seceratary, Islamic Fiqh Academy, India) 3, January 2014 AD 14 Water Resources and Related Sharia Rulings One of man’s basic necessities is water. If the water is sweet, it quenches our thirst, is used in cooking, washing clothes and many other tasks. And even if it is saline like that of the seas its uses are manifold because nature has endowed it with the extraordinary properties of absorbing pollutants and dissolving contaminants. With the progression of culture and industry human population also incurs an increase. This in turn creates a larger demand for water, the shortage of which is a cause of worry for the entire world.