—concerning which there are explicit prophetic reports—whereas the remaining three are left without textual definition (that is, no fixed limits are set for them). The same silence obtains with respect to the passage from post-partum bleeding (nifās) to istiḥāḍah.
Chapter Three
Knowledge of the Rulings Governing Menstruation and Istiḥāḍah
The point of departure in this chapter is the Almighty’s statement:
“They ask you about menstruation …” (al-Baqarah 2:222),
along with the ḥadīths on the matter that we shall cite in due course.
The Muslims are unanimously agreed that menstruation bars a woman from four acts:
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Performing the prayer and being obliged to perform it—meaning that she is not required to make up the missed prayers, unlike the fast.
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Observing the fast, though she must make up the missed days when she is pure. This is on the strength of the sound report from ʿĀʾishah: “We were commanded to make up the fast but were not commanded to make up the prayer.” Only a faction of the Khārijites held that she must also make up the prayers.
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To the best of my knowledge, circumambulating the House (ṭawāf), for in the authenticated ḥadīth ʿĀʾishah related that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—told her to perform everything the pilgrim performs except the circumambulation of the Kaʿbah.
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Vaginal intercourse, by the Almighty’s words: “Keep away from women during menstruation …” (al-Baqarah 2:222).
They have differed, however, over a number of other rulings; we shall mention the most renowned of them, five in all.
Issue One: The jurists disagreed about the degree of physical intimacy permitted with a menstruating wife. Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Ḥanīfah held that the husband may enjoy whatever lies above her waist-wrapper only. Sufyān al-Thawrī and Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī maintained that he need only avoid the area where the blood is.
The cause of their disagreement lies in the apparent meanings of the relevant ḥadīths and in the possible construction of the Qur’anic verse. Authentic reports from ʿĀʾishah, Maymūnah, and Umm Salamah relate that when one of them was menstruating, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—would tell her to fasten a waist-wrapper around herself and then he would engage in intimacy with her. Likewise, Thābit ibn Qays transmitted that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Do everything with the menstruating woman except intercourse.”
Abū