(2) The report cited from Ata is recorded by Ibn Abi Shaybah, al-Musannaf 1/66. Ibn al-Mundhir likewise transmitted from Mujahid and Ata that they said: “When she intends to purify herself, there is no harm in her washing the affected area with water, and her husband may have intercourse with her before she performs ghusl (ritual bath).” Al-Shawkani mentioned this in Nayl al-Awtar 1/202. Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir states (1/260): “The scholars are unanimously agreed that when a woman’s menses have stopped she is not lawful (for intercourse) until she washes with water or performs tayammum (dry ablution) if water is unavailable under its conditions—except that Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, holds that if the bleeding ceases at the maximum length of menstruation, which he fixes at ten days, she becomes permissible immediately upon cessation and is not required to bathe.” I say: This alleged consensus is unsound, for three leading Successors—Mujahid, Qatadah, and Ata—held that intercourse is permissible even if she has not bathed. How, then, can there be consensus when such authorities dissent? The prudent scholar should therefore be slow to claim ijma (consensus), for it is hard to verify, and should not accept the claim uncritically, especially when it conflicts with the sunnah or other scriptural evidence. Moreover, what Ibn Kathir reported from Abu Hanifah has also been transmitted by others