Short answer
No. In the Hanafi school, creatures without flowing blood, such as flies, mosquitoes, ants, bees and cockroaches, do not make water or food najis when they die in it, and you can still use the water for wudu. Remove the insect. Animals with flowing blood, like a mouse, are different. The other schools reach the same practical answer.
An animal that has no flowing blood does not make water or food najis by dying in it. Water creatures such as fish and frogs that die in water do not make it najis either. Eating the insect itself is not allowed, except locusts. An animal with flowing blood that dies in a small amount of water makes it najis.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The dead insect itself is impure, but it does not make water or food impure if it fell in by itself; it is excused.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said that if a fly falls into your drink, dip it fully, then take it out, because one of its wings carries disease and the other its cure. If a fly made the drink impure, he would not have told people to dip it and keep the drink. Scholars extended this to all creatures without flowing blood.
Common cases for a Hanafi:
- Dead fly, mosquito, ant or small beetle in your wudu water: remove it and use the water.
- Insect in your tea or soup: take it out. The drink is pure. You may drink it if you are not put off.
- Cockroach or spider found in a tank or bucket: the water is still pure, though you may prefer to change it for cleanliness.
- A frog or fish that dies in water: the water stays pure.
- A mouse, lizard with blood, or bird dead in a bucket or small tank: the water is najis and cannot be used for wudu. See najis in water.
The insect itself is a different matter. Hanafi scholars do not allow eating insects, except locusts, since they count as khaba'ith (things people find foul). Swallowing a small one by accident is not a sin. Washing out the cup afterwards is good manners, not an obligation.
Killing insects that harm you is allowed: see killing insects.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 3320
Sahih... اذا وقع الذباب في شراب احدكم فليغمسه ...
"If a fly falls into the drink of one of you, let him dip it in."
A drink a fly fell into stays pure, which scholars extend to creatures without flowing blood.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Taharat, chapter on water. Death of an animal without flowing blood does not make water impure.
- Nur al-Idah with Maraqi al-Falah, Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on water. Water animals and insects dying in water do not make it impure.
- al-Majmu' (Nawawi), Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on water. The Shafi'i view that such creatures are excused.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.