Assalaamu alaykum. Please, I request that you write back in a fatwa as I need a direct answer to my question. My period is usually a week long, and I just had my period recently. After a week, I inserted a piece of cotton to check for any discharge and found really small spots of yellow discharge. I checked again and found some more wetness but could not tell if it was clear or yellowish, so I did ghusl (ritual bath) as the spots were pretty small, probably smaller than a coin in size. I also found a light beige-ish colored small clump of discharge. After having performed ghusl and having prayed three prayers, I went to the bathroom and, during istinja (cleaning private parts after using the bathroom), I found a clear, white discharge. My questions are: Was my first ghusl valid? Do I have to perform ghusl and my prayers anew? Are those really small spots of discharge considered part of the menses? Please respond with a fatwa as soon as you can. May Allaah reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Becoming pure from menses takes place by seeing either (a) the dryness of the vagina or (b) the white discharge that women know as marking the end of their menstrual cycle.

Haashiyat ar-Rawdh reads:

“In brief, regarding the purity by the dryness of the vagina or the white discharge, then if a woman is among those who see the white discharge, then she should perform ghusl when she sees it. Maalik said, 'It is a known matter with women, but if a woman does not see it, then when she sees dryness, she performs ghusl and prays. Dryness is seen when she inserts a piece of cotton into her vagina and it comes out without any trace of blood or yellowish or brownish discharges because the vagina of the woman is seldom free of wetness.”

For more benefit, please refer to fataawa 174955 and 231715.

Therefore, the clear, white discharge that you saw is what marks the end of you menses. Your ghusl before seeing it was not valid. The yellowish discharge that you saw before was part of your menses because you had not yet seen dryness. So if you only performed that ghusl and did not perform ghusl again after seeing the dryness, then you are obliged to perform ghusl again and repeat all the prayers that you performed without a valid purity. In case you did perform ghusl again after seeing the white discharge, then your prayers after it are valid and you are not required to do anything.

Allaah knows best.