Ruling on using sea-shells to clean oneself after defecating
Question: Are sea-shells considered to be among the bones which we are not permitted to use to clean ourselves after defecating?
Answer: Praise be to Allaah.
We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen, who replied:
No, rather it is permissible to use them because of the hadeeth, “For you is every bone over which the name of Allaah was pronounced [when the animal was slaughtered].” And these shells are not slaughtered, so they are not like animals which we are permitted to eat, over which the name of Allaah is pronounced at the time of slaughter, and the bones of which we are forbidden to use to clean ourselves after defecating, because they are the food of the Muslim jinn, as stated in the hadeeth quoted above.
And Allaah knows best.
Actually, that fatwa makes a bit of scientific sense. In the unlikely event that I was ever intoxicated enough to attempt wiping my ass with a bone, a sea shell would certainly be preferrably to some bacteria laden thing from the skeleton of a slaughtered animal. Hypothetically speaking, of course. :)
Is there a good web site for these more amusing fatwa's?
You mean they know how to use the three shells?