Discover the meaning of the term Istinja (استِنْجاء) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readFrom najw; and in the whole of the tongue, najw is what issues from the belly. Istinja proceeds from it: seeking to be quit of it and its trace, so in al-Maghrib. One also says naja and anja of impurity: he istanja when he wiped the place or washed it.
The use of stone or water.
Lexically: going to the raised part of the ground to answer the call. The najwa: its raised spot, where they screened themselves when sitting for relief, shielding themselves from ritual impurity as by excrement, out of modesty at naming the thing by its proper name; their habit was decorum of terms and use of allusions, guarding tongues and ears from what eyes are guarded from. In Fath al-Qadir: it is removing what soils the path; one says naja and anja when impurity occurs; its origin is najwa, the raised place screened at the time of need; then they said istanja: wiping the place of najw, what issues from the belly, or washing it. Also from naja the skin, to strip it; and the sin may be the letter of seeking, as istakhraja: seeking the najw to remove it. Ibn ’Arfa said: it is removing urine and excrement from their two exits; also washing the place of filth with water, from najwetu meaning I cut, as if istinja cut off the hurt. In ar-Rawd al-Mourbi’: it is removing what issues upon the path with water, or lessening it with stone or the like; the second is called istijmar, from jimar, the small pebbles.
It is removing impurity from the two paths with water, or lessening it with stone.
Drawing the thing from its place and freeing it. Removing the najw, mostly with water, sometimes with stones. An-najw: what issues from the belly, urine, wind and excrement. An-najwa: the raised ground; one says: he is a najwa away from this matter, meaning far, quit and safe. An-najwa: the secrecy of talk; in the noble Quran: « no good in much of their secret talks, save him who bids charity, or what is right, or reconciliation between people; who does that seeking Allah’s pleasure, We shall give him a great reward » (an-Nisa 114). The people of the secret conference, singular as plural. An-naji: the one confided in; plural anjiya.