Second: to identify the signs that mark the transition from purity to menstruation, from menstruation back to purity or to irregular bleeding (istihāḍah), and likewise from istihāḍah to purity.
Third: to know the rulings of menstruation and istihāḍah—that is, the acts they prohibit and the obligations they entail.
In each of these three sections we shall present those questions that serve as general principles and foundations for everything contained therein, indicating both the points on which the scholars concurred and those on which they differed.
Section One
The Muslims are unanimously agreed that the blood issuing from the womb is of three kinds:
- Menstrual blood (ḥayḍ), which flows in a state of health;
- Irregular bleeding (istihāḍah), which flows on account of illness and is distinct from menstruation, as the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “That is only a vein and not menstruation”;
- Post-partum bleeding (nifās), which accompanies childbirth.
Section Two
As for recognizing the signs by which these kinds of blood succeed one another, and the passage from purity to menstruation and from menstruation back to purity, that knowledge depends for the most part on knowing a woman’s customary days of bleeding and of purity. We shall set out here the foundational matters—seven issues in all.
Issue One
The jurists disagreed about the maximum and minimum lengths of menstruation and the minimum length of purity.
It is reported from Mālik that the maximum length of menstruation is fifteen days, and this is also the view of al-Shāfiʿī. Abū Ḥanīfah, however, held the maximum to be ten days. As for the minimum length of menstruation, Mālik set no limit; in his opinion even a single discharge may constitute menstruation, though it is not counted among the qurūʾ considered in divorce. Al-Shāfiʿī maintained that the minimum is one day and one night, whereas Abū Ḥanīfah put it at three days.
With regard to the minimum period of purity, the reports from Mālik vary: one puts it at ten days, another at eight, and another—preferred by his Baghdadi disciples—at fifteen days; this last figure is also the opinion of al-Shāfiʿī and Abū Ḥanīfah. A view of seventeen days is likewise mentioned, and, as far as I know, that is the longest span upon which consensus has formed.
As for the maximum interval of purity, they set no limit at all.
In light of these positions:
• Whoever fixes a minimum for menstruation must deem any bleeding that falls short of that amount, when it occurs during menstruating age, to be istihāḍah.
• Whoever sets no minimum must regard even a single discharge as menstruation.
• And whoever fixes a maximum must consider any bleeding that exceeds that limit to be istihāḍah.
The upshot of Mālik’s school in this matter is that women fall into two categories: beginners (mubtadaʾah) and those with an established habit (muʿtādah).
The beginner refrains