969 — ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The only qurʾs are the states of purity.” Mālik recorded it in the course of an incident with a sound chain of transmission (1).

Grade of the ḥadith
The ḥadith is authentic. Imām al-Shāfiʿī narrated it from Mālik, from Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, from his maternal aunt ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• innamā: inna is a particle of emphasis and mā that follows it neutralizes the sentence; taken together they convey exclusivity, so here the statement restricts the qurʾs to the periods of purity.
• al-aqrāʾ: plural of qurʾ. Al-Nihāyah explains that it is a contronym, applicable to purity— the view of al-Shāfiʿī— or to menstruation— the view of Abū Ḥanīfah.
• al-aṭhār: with an open hamzah, plural of ṭuhr, meaning the interval of purity between two menstrual cycles.