that she be treated like a beginner, and it has also been said that she should sit for six or seven days. This last view is the weakest, while the first is the soundest in light of both transmitted evidence and reason; all of them are opinions attributed to the scholars of Medina.

When the menstrual blood recedes, ceases, and the bleeding of istihada begins, she performs a full ritual bath (ghusl) just as a menstruating woman does upon attaining purity. The same applies to any woman whose ruling shifts from menstruation to istihada: she bathes once, after which no further bath is obligatory upon a mustahada. She performs wudu for every prayer. According to Malik this is not binding but recommended, whereas other Medinan jurists deem it mandatory. Should the woman recover from her condition and the istihada blood stop, no bath is required of her. Some scholars nevertheless recommend that she bathe, and that too is narrated from Malik.

A woman in istihada is considered pure: she prays, fasts, circumambulates the Kaʿba, reads from the mushaf, and her husband may have intercourse with her if he wishes, so long as she is performing the prayer during her istihada.

The ruling for chronic urinary incontinence or continual discharge of madhi (pre-seminal fluid) is the same as that for istihada. Malik recommends wudu for every prayer, while others obligate it. If the madhi is emitted because of sexual arousal, or urine for its normal reason, wudu becomes obligatory, as previously mentioned—by analogy with one who prays while his wound does not stop bleeding, or a person overcome by a nosebleed who merely gestures the movements within his prayer.