Question:
The hadith is from Abu Dawood (Hadith 67). Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allahﷻ be pleased with him) narrates that people asked the Messengerﷺ of Allahﷻ (peace be upon him) about water brought from the well of Budha, a well into which dead dogs, menstrual cloths, and human waste were thrown. The Prophetﷺ replied that water is pure and nothing makes it impure. Is it authentic?
Answer:
The questioner doubts how water from such a well could remain pure if dead animals and waste were thrown into it. The author Abu Dawood also mentions additional details. Qutaybah bin Sa’id said he asked the caretaker of the well about its depth, and he replied that at most the water reached the level of a man’s private hair area if he stood in it.
Abu Dawood himself visited the well in Madinah and measured it. He found the depth to be about two cubits and the width about six cubits. This means it was a relatively small well with limited water. If dead animals and waste were thrown into such a small volume of water, it would naturally change in color, smell, and taste and become impure. Yet the hadith states that the Prophetﷺ used this water, even for ablution and drinking.
The narrator then questions whether the well had been altered since the Prophetﷺ’s time. The caretaker reportedly said it had not changed. Abu Dawood also mentions that he saw the water and observed changes in its color, suggesting contamination.
The speaker then argues that the hadith is weak because of unreliable narrators. The chain includes Ubaidullah bin Abdul Rahman bin Rafi’ al-Ansari, whom scholars considered weak and unknown. Another narrator, Saleet bin Ayyub, is also unknown. Because of these unreliable narrators, the hadith is considered weak in chain. From a rational perspective, it is also questioned because water contaminated with decaying animals would produce foul odour and disease.
The same narration appears in other collections such as Musnad Ahmad, Sunan Nasayi, Tirmidhi, and others, but each version contains the same weak or unknown narrators. Therefore, all versions of the hadith are argued to be weak. Additional narrations claiming that the Prophetﷺ drank water from that well or prayed for its blessing are also reported through weak narrators.
The speaker concludes that purity of water can be understood through common sense. If water changes in smell, taste, or colour due to contamination, it is considered impure. For example, if a dead animal is thrown into water and decomposition causes foul smell and contamination, people naturally understand it as impure without needing specific textual evidence.
It is also mentioned that the ‘well of Budha’ was already abandoned by the time Abu Dawood saw it and was used as a dumping place. Later, during the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi during the reign of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, the well area was incorporated into the mosque structure. Therefore, the well no longer exists as a separate identifiable location today.