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from women during menstruation, and do not approach them until they have become pure⦗1⦘; when they have purified themselves, then go to them from where Allah has commanded you. Truly Allah loves those who constantly repent and He loves those who keep themselves pure.”
There are several hadiths on this matter:
The first is his ﷺ saying:
“Whoever has intercourse with a menstruating woman, or with a woman through her back passage, or consults a soothsayer…"
and others take it to refer to the odor of menstrual blood. Sayyid Rashid Rida (2/362) writes: “To keep the wording in its literal sense is confirmed by medical science; there is therefore no need to depart from it.” By this he means physical harm, adding: “Intercourse with them at such a time is a cause of pain and injury; even if the man escapes harm, the woman scarcely does, because the act disturbs her reproductive organs, forcing them into activity for which they are neither prepared nor able, since they are already occupied with another natural function—the discharge of the well-known blood.”
(1) What is meant here is the cessation of menstrual bleeding, something that occurs without any action by the woman herself—unlike the *fa-idha tatahharna* (“but when they purify themselves,” Q 2:222), which is their own act of washing with water. The precise sense will be discussed under Issue 17.
النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ وَلا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ١ فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ﴾ .
وفيه أحاديث:
الأول: من قوله ﷺ:
"من أتى حائضا أو امرأة في دبرها أو كاهنا
= وغيره برائحة دم الحيض. قال السيد رشيد رضا ﵀ ٢/٣٦٢:
"أخذه على ظاهره مقرر في الطب فلا حاجة إلى العدول عنه " ويعني به الضرر الجسماني قال:
"لأن غشيانهن سبب للأذى والضرر وإذا سلم الرجل من هذا الأذى فلا تكاد تسلم منه المرأة لأن الغشيان يزعج أعضاء النسل فيها إلى ما ليست مستعدة له ولا قادرة عليه لاشتغالها بوظيفة طبيعية أخرى وهي إفراز الدم المعروف".
١ هو انقطاع دم الحيض وهو ما لا يكون بفعل النساء بخلاف التطهر في قوله: ﴿فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ﴾ فإنه من عملهن وهو استعمال الماء منهن وسيأتي بيان المراد منه في المسألة ١٧.