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Fatwa CenterScholars’ opinions regarding transformation of Najaasah into pure substances
Question
Is thermally treated sewage that is transformed into fertilizers considered pure or impure?Does the use of such fertilizers imply any dangers to the health or make the garden’s ground impure and unsuitable for prayer?
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Scholars unanimously agree that if wine transformed into vinegar without human interference, then it becomes pure. However, they disagreed regarding other impurities that are transformed into pure substances. Hanafi, Thaahiri and some Maaliki scholars, in addition to Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, are of the opinion that transformation of impurities makes them pure. On the other hand, Shaafi‘i scholars and the majority of the Hanbali scholars say that transformation does not make impurities pure.
The first party argues that the state of purity or impurity is contingent upon the nature of things. Hence, if this nature ceased to exist, then the ruling should follow it. Moreover, transformation of the nature of substances is harder than transformation of wine, thus, it makes them pure by a greater reason.
Ibn Al-Qayyim 
said:
It is impossible for the ruling on impurity to last when the name and characteristics of the impure substance have changed. The ruling is connected to the name and characteristics of a substance. The presence of the name and characteristics determine the ruling on the substance. The texts which deal with the prohibition on dead meat, blood, pork and alcohol do not deal with crops, fruits, sand, salt, soil or vinegar, whether in wording, meaning, text or analogy.
We believe that this is the preponderant opinion.
Hence, the questioner should know that the treated sewage that is transformed into various materials; such as fertilizers is Taahir (ritually pure).
With regard to your question whether the use of these fertilizers implies any dangers to the health or not, this should be determined by the specialists; if they proved that the use of such fertilizers is harmless, then there is no Sharee‘ah objection to using them and vice versa.
Performing prayer on the ground of a garden where such fertilizers are used is valid, based on the opinion that we have adopted – that such fertilizers are ritually pure.
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