62 – On the authority of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her): “Fāṭimah bint Abī Ḥubaysh came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I am a woman who experiences istiḥāḍah (continuous, non-menstrual bleeding) and therefore never become ritually pure. Should I leave off the prayer?’ He replied, ‘No. That is only a vein, not menstruation. When your period begins, refrain from the prayer, and when it ends, wash the blood from yourself and then pray.’ ” Agreed upon.

Al-Bukhārī adds: “Then perform ablution for every prayer,” while Muslim notes that he omitted this sentence deliberately.⦗1⦘

Vocabulary of the ḥadith:
• “I experience istiḥāḍah”: istiḥāḍah is blood that flows at times other than the usual menses because of illness or a physiological disorder. It issues from a vein whose opening lies at the lowest part of the womb, called the ʿirq al-ʿādhil. A fuller discussion will appear in the Chapter of Menstruation, Allah willing.

• “Should I leave off the prayer?” The initial hamzah is an interrogative requesting information; the succeeding fāʾ indicates immediate sequence, and what follows is a present-tense verb spoken by the first-person subject.

• “adʿu” (I leave/abandon): derived from waḍaʿtuhu adaʿuhu wadʿan, meaning “I left it.” The vowel in the original present tense is kasrah; the wāw was then dropped and the vowel opened because of the following guttural consonant. The grammarians state that the Arabs discontinued the past tense of yadʿu, along with its verbal noun and active participle, so those forms are unattested.

• “lā”: This particle has three main functions; the first is to serve as a reply that negates what would otherwise be affirmed by “yes,” and this is the meaning intended here.