What is the ruling on the remains of animals considered pure due to difficulty in avoidance (like cats and smaller creatures) after their death?
Chapter on Utensils
Al-Mughni
Book of Purification
Primary text
For animals that are ruled pure during life due to the difficulty of avoiding contact with them (such as cats and creatures smaller than them in form), there are differing opinions regarding their state after death. The soundest opinion holds that they remain pure after death. This is because their purity was established during life, and death does not inherently necessitate impurity. The opposing view suggests they become impure after death because the previous ruling of purity was conditional upon the necessity of overlooking it due to difficulty in avoidance; since that necessity (the need to overlook it) has ceased after death, the purity ruling is lifted.
Supporting text
One view maintains that these animals become impure after death because their purity in life was contingent upon the practical difficulty of avoiding them; since that practical necessity is now absent, the ruling of purity is revoked. However, the correct position maintains their inherent purity persists, arguing that the premise of an impurity-causing defect existing alongside the purity ruling is unfounded, or that if such a defect existed, the Lawgiver nullified its consideration in this context.