ablution concerns cases in which she engages in iltāf, as clarified in Ibn Abī Uways’s report from Mālik. Some of our scholars reduce all these reports to two positions: one requiring ablution and the other dispensing with it. The obligation is tied to iltāf and the experience of pleasure.

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If a woman touches her genitals without engaging in iltāf or experiencing pleasure, she is not required to perform ablution according to Mālik, and no disagreement is reported from him on this point. If she engages in iltāf and experiences pleasure, ablution is obligatory according to Mālik, without disagreement. It has also been said that two positions are reported from him concerning this, as we have explained.

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Mālik consistently held that a man is not required to perform ablution after touching his anus, whether or not he experiences pleasure. Al-Shāfi‘ī, however, required ablution on the basis of the apparent meaning of the Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Whoever touches his private parts must perform ablution.”

Section: Nosebleeding

According to Mālik and all his companions, nosebleeding does not invalidate ritual purity, whether slight or profuse. This differs from the position of Abū Hanīfah and his companions, who hold that it invalidates ablution when profuse, and from that of Mujāhid, who holds that it invalidates ablution even when slight.

As regards the rulings of prayer, nosebleeding falls into two categories: continuous bleeding that does not stop, and intermittent bleeding that stops. In the first case, where the bleeding is continuous and does not stop, the person must perform the prayer at its prescribed time in his existing condition. The basis for this is that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah Most High be pleased with him—prayed after he was stabbed, while blood was flowing from his wound.

If he cannot prostrate or bow, either because doing so would harm him and increase his nosebleeding, or because he fears becoming stained with blood if he bows or prostrates, he should perform the entire prayer using gestures, as Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyab stated. Thus, both interpretations