Is the prohibition against a man using a woman's leftover purified water a based on an unexplained command (Ta'abbudi)?

Chapter on What Necessitates Ghusl

Al-Mughni

Book of Purification

Book 2 · Issue 9 · Bab 8

Open in Qurani

Primary text

The prohibition against a man using the leftover purified water of a woman is considered a Ta'abbudi (worship-based) prohibition without an apparent rationale, a position explicitly stated by Ahmad. Therefore, it is permissible for any other woman to use it for ritual impurity removal, washing away filth, and other uses, because the prohibition is specific to the man and its meaning is not understood, necessitating its restriction to the exact context mentioned. The soundest view is that the man may use it to wash away physical impurity (Najasa). This is because the water purifies the woman from both major impurity and filth, and removes filth from all surfaces when she uses it, thus it should remove filth when used by the man, similar to all other waters. Since the reason for the Hadith concerning the woman is not understood, the ruling must be limited to what the text explicitly mentions.

Supporting text

There are two views regarding whether a man can wash away filth with it. One view, held by Al-Qadi, is that he cannot, because it is a liquid that does not remove major impurity, thus it does not remove physical impurity, similar to other liquids. The second view, considered correct, allows it based on the general purifying nature of the water when used by the woman.