Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: The argument of those who do not oblige the expiation is the inconsistency of the hadith, and that the original presumption of non-liability supports those who exempt it, since, in their view, the hadith is not authentic.
As for those who make expiation obligatory, they regard the hadith as sound and adequate for establishing a legal ruling.
Imam Aḥmad judged the hadith strong and acted upon it, and a number of other early scholars followed suit. Al-Albani stated: “Its chain is authentic; a group of earlier and later authorities declared it sound.” The compilers of the Sunan and al-Bayhaqi transmitted it with a chain meeting al-Bukhari’s conditions; al-Ḥākim authenticated it, and al-Dhahabi, Ibn Daqiq al-ʿId, and Ibn al-Qayyim concurred. Allah knows best.
Notice:
The scholars disagreed over why the lawgiver allows a choice between one dinar and half a dinar, giving two explanations:
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A full dinar is required for intercourse at the beginning of menstruation, and half a dinar for intercourse toward its end. This is supported by the fact that the blood is heaviest in the first days and the resulting harm is greater.
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The choice is analogous to the traveler’s option of shortening the prayer or performing it in full—a view toward which Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah inclined.
The dinar weighs 4.25 grams of gold. The shaykh held that only a coined dinar fulfils the requirement, because the term “dinar” refers to a minted coin, and he expressed this preference in al-Furūʿ.
According to the well-known position of the Ḥanbalī school, the obligation may be discharged with a minted dinar, any other form of gold equal to it, or its value in silver alone. Allah knows best.
Harms of intercourse during menstruation:
Dr. Muhammad ʿAlī al-Barr, a physician, says: Introducing the penis into the vagina during menses introduces microbes at a time when the body’s defenses cannot resist them, leading to the following:
- Inflammation may spread to the fallopian tubes and block them, which can result in infertility, or pregnancy