Criteria of Dryness from Menses
Fatwa No: 414910

Question

assalamuAlaikum I no longer see whitish or dryness after my period again for the past 1year now instead I sees milkish or yellowish it doesn't drop but when I insert wool I sees it sometimes I will wait but the whitish or dryness would not show.wat do I do? should I take ghusl like that or I should wait for 15days normally my period is 5days.

Answer

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

Dryness is verified when a woman inserts a piece of cotton (or a Q-tip into her vagina) and it comes out clean without a trace of blood and without a yellowish or brownish trace on it. If she sees white discharges afterward, she should ignore them, because they emission is considered (a sign of) ritual purity because the vagina is seldom free of such moisture.

Therefore, if you see this white discharge, you have become ritually pure by dryness, and it is incumbent on you to perform Ghusl (ritual bath).

Any yellowish or brownish discharges that you may see afterward are not considered menses, and you should ignore them. But if you see any yellowish discharge that is connected to the menstrual bleeding (i.e. its emission starts immediately after cessation of menstrual blood, without a gap between them), then it is considered menstruation. In this case, you are not ritually pure until you see the white discharge.

If this yellowish discharge is connected to the menstrual bleeding, and the total days of menstrual bleeding and the emission of the yellowish discharge combined amount to 15 days – which is the maximum duration of menstruation – and you did not see the sign of dryness during those 15 days, then it is considered Istihaadhah (vaginal bleeding outside the menstrual period). Therefore, you should consider the normal length of your regular menses, which is five days, as you mentioned, perform Ghusl after the five days, and any bleeding or discharge that you may see beyond these five days is regarded as Istihaadhah, during which you have to perform the prayers. As long as you are in a state of Istihaadhah, you should perform ablution for each prayer once its time becomes due and pray the obligatory prayer and whatever voluntary prayers you wish to pray with this ablution until the time of this prayer expires.

Allah Knows best.

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