the entry of a person in a state of major ritual impurity into the mosque. The default ruling is permissibility, and that may only be overturned by sound evidence that carries probative force—especially since an authentic report reinforces this principle, namely the Prophet’s ﷺ statement cited earlier, “Hand me the palm-fiber mat from the mosque,” along with other narrations that will follow.

Ibn Ḥazm said:
“It is permissible for a menstruating woman, a woman in post-partum bleeding, and likewise for someone in major ritual impurity to conclude a marriage and to enter the mosque, because no prohibition on any of this has reached us. The Messenger ﷺ said, ‘The believer is never impure.’ The People of the Bench (ahl al-Suffah) used to spend the night in the mosque in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; they were many, and there is no doubt that some of them experienced nocturnal emission, yet they were never forbidden from staying there.”

Others have maintained that a person in major impurity and a menstruating woman may enter the mosque only while passing through it. This is the view of al-Shāfiʿī. They cite the Almighty’s words: “O you who believe, do not approach the prayer while you are intoxicated until you understand what you are saying, nor while you are in a state of major impurity—unless you are merely passing through—until you have bathed” (al-Nisāʾ 4:43). They claim that Zayd ibn Aslam, or someone else, interpreted it to mean: do not come near the places of prayer.

Ibn Ḥazm replied: “There is no proof in Zayd’s statement, and even if it were soundly reported from him it would still be an error, for it is inconceivable that Allah intended to say, ‘Do not come near the places of prayer,’ yet would phrase it in a manner that confuses us by saying, ‘Do not approach the prayer.’ On the contrary, it is related from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Ibn ʿAbbās, and others that the verse refers to the prayer itself.”

Mālik, however, said: “He must not pass through the mosque at all.”