View of Maaliki school on impurity in prayer
20-9-2016 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum. When does the domino affect of wet impurity end? Otherwise everything can become impure! If you have a lot of problems with impurities, can you follow Maalik, who I believe said that impurity does not make the prayer invalid? If you did follow him in that, would you have to follow all Maalik's rulings related to the 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 ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The official and best known opinion of the Maaliki scholars is that when someone performs the prayer while he knows of the presence of the impurity (najaasah) and he is able to remove it, then his prayer is invalid and he is obliged to repeat it. Rather, many Maaliki scholars held that this view is agreed upon by consensus and that the difference in opinion regarding whether the removal of the impurity is obligatory or recommended is merely terminology-related.
The Maaliki scholar Al-Hattaab 
wrote:
“The apparent indication of the statements of the scholars of our school is that the difference of opinion among scholars in this regard is on the level of terminology only, according to the preponderant view on the ruling on removing the impurity. There is no difference in the meaning entailed by the scholarly difference of opinion on this issue. The preponderant view of the Maaliki school is that when someone performs the prayer deliberately while he knows of the ruling (of praying with the impurity) or while he is ignorant of the ruling but he is able to remove it, his prayer is invalid and he is obliged to repeat his prayer under all circumstances. If he performs the prayer with the impurity present out of forgetfulness, or because he did not know of its presence, or because he was unable to remove it, then he must repeat the prayer if its due time has not expired. This is the opinion of both groups, those who said that removing the impurity is an act of Sunnah and those who said that it is obligatory when he is aware of its presence and is able to remove it.” [Mawaahib Al-Jaleel]
The Maaliki scholar Al-Mawwaaq wrote:
“Ibn Rushd said that the best known view of Ibn Al-Qaasim and his narration from Maalik is that when one performs prayer in an impure garment while he knows of the presence of impurity without being compelled by necessity, whether deliberately or while unaware of its ruling, then he must repeat the prayer in all cases. If he performed the prayer in such a garment forgetfully or while being unaware of the presence of impurity or if he is compelled by necessity, then he must repeat the prayer if its due time has not expired.” [At-Taaj wa Al-Ikleel]
Repeating the prayer in its time, according to the Maalikis, means that it is recommended that he repeats the prayer as long as its time has not expired; if its time has ended, then he is not required to repeat it.
Hence, the person who performs the prayer while knowing of the presence of impurity and being able to remove it, his prayer is invalid according to the Maalikis and other schools of Fiqh as well. If he performs the prayer forgetfully or while being unable to remove the impurity, then his prayer is valid according to the Maalikis and some other schools of Fiqh as well.
If a person follows the scholarly view of a specific school of Fiqh on any issue, then he is not obliged to follow that school of Fiqh in all other issues. It is permissible for laymen, who do not possess adequate knowledge to practice Ijtihaad (independent reasoning) themselves, to follow the scholarly views of any of the acceptable schools of Fiqh, and they are not obliged to follow that specific school in all issues.
The Shaafiʻi scholar Ibn Hajar Al-Haytami said, "The preponderant view in this regard is that it is allowable for laymen to follow the scholarly views of any of the four reliable schools of Fiqh (Hanafi, Maaliki, Shaafiʻi and Hanbali) and other acceptable schools of Fiqh as well whose scholarly views regarding that issue that have been duly preserved and documented and whose governing rules, conditions, methodologies, and other considerations have been documented and clearly identified." [Tuhfat Al-Muhtaaj]
However, it should be noted that it is prohibited for the Muslim to seek after the legal concessions in each and every school of Fiqh with the intention of following the easiest views on all issues in order to satisfy his personal inclinations. Fataawa Muhammad ʻUlaysh reads, “It is impermissible for the person to persistently follow the legal views that are easiest and most conforming to his personal desires. This was cited by Ar-Riyaashi and others...”
Lastly, we would like to warn the dear questioner not to respond to waswaas (obsessive whisperings) and doubts regarding impurities. Verily, the best remedy for such whisperings is to disregard them completely. When the person doubts the impurity of his garment, body, or any other object, he must disregard such doubts because the basic principle is that all things are ritually pure unless proven otherwise with certainty.
For more benefit, please refer to fataawa 92050, 206935and 209290.
Allaah knows best.