Chapter on Purifying Water From Impurities
Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām|Volume 1|Book 1|Chapter 11
مَا أَخْبَرَنِي بِهِ اَلشَّيْخُ أَيَّدَهُ اَللَّهُ تَعَالَى بِالْإِسْنَادِ اَلْمُتَقَدِّمِ عَنِ اَلْحُسَيْنِ بْنِ سَعِيدٍ عَنْ عُثْمَانَ بْنِ عِيسَى عَنْ سَمَاعَةَ قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اَللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ اَلسَّلاَمُ عَنِ اَلْفَأْرَةِ تَقَعُ فِي اَلْبِئْرِ أَوِ اَلطَّيْرِ قَالَ« إِنْ أَدْرَكْتَهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُنْتِنَ نَزَحْتَ مِنْهَا سَبْعَ دِلاَءٍ وَ إِنْ كَانَ سِنَّوْرٌ أَوْ أَكْبَرُ مِنْهُ نَزَحْتَ مِنْهَا ثَلاَثِينَ دَلْواً أَوْ أَرْبَعِينَ دَلْواً وَ إِنْ أَنْتَنَ حَتَّى يُوجَدَ رِيحُ اَلنَّتْنِ فِي اَلْمَاءِ نَزَحْتَ اَلْبِئْرَ حَتَّى يَذْهَبَ اَلنَّتْنُ مِنَ اَلْمَاءِ».
The Shaykh (Al-Mufid), may Allah سبحانه وتعالى support him, narrated to me through the preceding chain from al-Husayn ibn Sa'id, from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Isa, from Sama’ah, who said:
I asked Abu Abdullah عليه السلام about a mouse or a bird falling into a well. Imam عليه السلام said: "If you retrieve it before it becomes putrid, remove seven buckets of water from the well. If it is a cat or something larger, remove thirty or forty buckets. And if the water becomes putrid to the extent that the foul smell is noticeable in the water, then drain the well completely until the stench disappears from the water."
- Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām fī Sharḥ al-Muqniʿah, vol. 1, p. 250
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Tahdhīb, p. 21