Clearing confusion regarding vaginal discharge
3-1-2018 | IslamWeb
Question:
Sorry, I wrote this query, but with the wrong email. Please answer me on this email:
Assalaamu alaykum. I am confused about your ruling on female discharge during her days of purity. In fatwa No. 358021, you said, "You do not have to wash it. You only need to perform ablution." Then, in fatwa No. 825309, you said, "Whenever the discharge exits from a woman, she needs to perform ablution and wash the remains of that discharge from her body and clothes. It is safer to wash the discharge, even if it comes from the vagina."
1) If this discharge is continual (almost all the time), does one have to repeat her ablution for each prayer? And does she have to wash herself (female part) as well as the parts of her body and clothes where it gets on?
2) What if this only happens one or two days in a week. Is she obliged to wash herself and the parts of her legs and clothes where it gets on? Or can she perform ablution only and she does not need to wash anything? This third question is for my sister-in-law.
3) What is the ruling if it is not continual and it comes and goes at different times of a day and stops for a period of time which is enough to perform the prayer, does she have to wash herself (female part) and wash the parts of her legs and undergarment or pants where it gets on and perform ablution?
4) What if it is not continual and only occurs a very few times in a day and then discharge comes during the prayer, does she have to stop the prayer and repeat her ablution and wash her female part and the parts of the leg and of her pants (cloths) where it gets on? Please do not refer to previous fatwas. Thank you.
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, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The scholars held different opinions regarding the ruling on vaginal discharge. The view adopted at our site is that it is pure, and accordingly it is not obligatory to wash it off the body or clothes or perform Istinjaa’ (wash the private parts) after its emission. However, it does invalidate ablution. So, if it is not continuous, the woman should wait for the discharge to cease and perform ablution and pray during that time. If it comes out during the prayer, it invalidates it as long as the woman knows that the discharge stops for an interval of time that is enough for her to perform ablution and pray. However, if this discharge is continuous or it stops randomly such that the interval it stops in is sometimes long and sometimes short, then the woman is subject to the ruling of the person suffering incontinence. She performs ablution after the time of prayer starts and prays with that ablution what she wishes of obligatory and voluntary prayers until the time of that obligatory prayer ends. If this state recurs for one or two days a week, she follows the ruling on incontinence on those days and the ruling on normal people (who do not suffer incontinence) the rest of the week.
This answers your questions in brief. There is no contradiction between the fatwas which you mentioned. When we say that it is safer to wash the discharge, this does not indicate that it is obligatory to wash it; rather, it indicates that it is recommended in order to avoid an area in which there is a scholarly difference of opinion.
If you suffer from Waswaas (obsessive doubts), you are not required to take the safer course; rather, follow the easier and less stringent view in order to avoid hardship and inconvenience. This is the fatwa given to the person who suffers from Waswaas.
Allah knows best.