—the one meant here.
• dhaliki (with a kasrah on the final kāf): a form of address directed to the woman asking the question, while dhā is the demonstrative pointing to the blood that is issuing from her.
• ʿirq (with a kasrah on the ʿayn, a sukun on the rāʾ, and ending with a qāf).
Ibn Ḥajar states in al-Fath that this vein is called al-ʿādhil, whereas al-Qāmūs records it as al-ʿādhir—meaning that her bleeding is the result of a vein’s rupture.
• fa-idhā aqbalat ḥayḍatuki (with a fatḥah on the ḥāʾ; a kasrah is also permissible): “when your menstruation approaches,” i.e., when its appointed time arrives and the menstrual blood begins to flow during the days of her usual cycle.
• wa-idhā adbarat: the time when the blood stops at the end of those days.
What is gleaned from the ḥadith
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Anything that exits from either of the two passages nullifies ablution; this includes the flow of blood. The scholars are unanimously agreed on this.
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The blood of istiḥāḍah is not menstruation. Rather, it is blood that has its own causes, characteristics, and rulings.
• Cause: the opening of the ʿādhil vein. It is an ailment that calls for identifying its cause and treating it; hence physicians look with great concern at bleeding outside the time of menses, as it indicates the presence of some illness—either in the woman’s body and glands or in her reproductive system.
• Menstrual blood, by contrast, issues from the bottom of the womb. The Prophet ﷺ informed her that the two sources are different, thereby answering and redirecting her statement, “so I never become pure,” and clarifying that she is in fact ritually pure and therefore obliged to perform the prayer. -
As for the properties of istiḥāḍah blood, physicians say it is bright red, thin, and odorless, whereas menstrual blood is dark, thick, and has a foul smell.
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Regarding the rulings of istiḥāḍah blood: it does not bar a woman from any act of worship, nor from any matter whose performance depends on her being free from menstruation, so a woman experiencing istiḥāḍah is regarded with respect to