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Fatwa CenterDonating impure clothes to charity
Question
Aas Salaamu Alaikum. I have a lot of old clothes that I would like to donate to charity. Many of them are not clean. And I am sure some of them are not even in pure state to perform salaat in. So my question is do I need to wash all these clothes 3 times before I give them away or does the responsibility of purifying the clothes fall upon the receiver of the clothes? If I give them away in an impure state and the receiver then perform salaat in them will I be doing a sin? There are too many clothes and it is very difficult to wash all them 3 times. This is why I haven't been donating them even though there are needy people around me. Please let me know what I need to do. It's urgent. Thanks in advance.
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
The Jurists have stated in the Chapters on Sales –and not in the Chapter on Charity – that it is an obligation on the seller of an impure garment to inform the buyer that it is impure, and they provided the following as evidence:
1) The buyer might pray in it; the book Minah Al-Jaleel, on the obligation of informing the buyer about an impure garment when selling it, reads: “It appears that it is an obligation to inform (the buyer) about the state of the garment even if it does not get spoilt by washing and although it is not a defect, lest the buyer will pray in it, especially if its seller is someone who prays. That is because the buyer would assume that it is pure. At-Tattaa'i held that it is an obligation to inform (the buyer) of this if washing it would spoil it and if the buyer is someone who performs the prayer...” [End of quote]
2) Human nature hates impurities, as stated by the author of Al-Fawaakih Ad-Dawaani: “It is permissible to sell an impure garment provided that its state is clarified (to the buyer) even if the buyer is someone who does not pray, and even if it does not get spoilt by washing it. That is because people hate impurity; there is no difference between a new garment and a used one in this regard...” [End of quote]
Based on the above, if an impure garment is given in charity, the person who receives it might pray in it, and he also hates impurity by nature even if he is poor. Therefore, if you are unable to wash those clothes before giving them in charity, it is an obligation on you to inform the person to whom you donate them that there is impurity on the clothes so that he can take precaution and wash them, and if you do not inform him, then you are sinful as you have abandoned an obligation.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90184.
Allaah Knows best.
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