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Fatwa CenterWudhoo’ with water that has the smell of desalinization
Question
Assalamu Aleykoom, I'm from Qatar and the water here has a funny smell most likely due to being desalinated. The water coming from my tap has the same smell as the water at the Masjid. It's tasteless, but has the obvious smell of desalinization, can I still do wudu with it?
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.
The presumption is that a Wudhoo’ performed using the water that the municipality supplies to houses, mosques, and other places is valid. In fact, the basic principle is that water in general is pure and purifying (i.e. valid to use for Wudhoo’).
The Maaliki scholar Al-Hattaab 
said: "Whenever there are doubts regarding the legal status of a given matter, the presumption is to be adopted. The presumption regarding water is that it is ritually pure and purifying (i.e. may be used for purification [unless proved otherwise]). Moosa narrated on the authority of Ibn Al-Qaasim, as cited in the Book of Tahaarah, about a reservoir whose smell changes but no trace of a dead animal or a corpse is seen in it and beasts and animals drink from it; Ibn Al-Qaasim said that it is considered ritually pure as long as there is no sign of whatever is known to contaminate the water. Ibn Rushd underlined that this is similar to what is stated in the Mudawwanah because the presumption is that water is ritually pure (unless proved otherwise)." [Mawaahib Al-Jaleel]
If the smell of chlorine is found in the water supplied to houses and mosques, this does not affect the validity of a Wudhoo’; please refer to Fataawa 91531 and 124430.
Allaah Knows best.
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