The numbers (1 day min / 15 days max / 6–7 usual, 15-day minimum purity) and the ḥayḍ vs istiḥāḍah distinction carry this lesson. The two handout rulings are likely short answers.
1 · Menstruation (Ḥayḍ) الحيض
Meaning: linguistically "flowing"; in the Sharʿ, natural blood from the innermost womb after puberty, in health, at known times. It necessitates ghusl.
Signs of puberty (bulūgh)
- Nocturnal emission (iḥtilām) — male & female.
- Menstruation — for females.
- Otherwise, completing 15 lunar years. (Emission/menses can begin after completing 9 lunar years.)
Durations
- Minimum: 1 day & night.
- Maximum: 15 days & nights.
- Common (usual): 6 or 7 days.
- Purity (ṭuhr) between cycles: minimum 15 days; no maximum (may go a year or more).
2 · Istiḥāḍah & the three bloods
- Istiḥāḍah (irregular bleeding): blood seen for less than the minimum (under 1 day & night) or more than the maximum (over 15 days). It is illness-blood from a vein (al-ʿādhil).
- Istiḥāḍah invalidates wudū but does NOT require ghusl and does NOT prevent prayer or fasting. She washes, binds the area, makes wudū for each obligatory prayer, then prays.
- Distinguishing ḥayḍ from istiḥāḍah: by colour and intensity — menstrual blood is dark and thick/recognisable.
| Blood | What it is | Ghusl? | Stops prayer/fasting? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ḥayḍ | Monthly natural blood (1–15 days) | Yes, when it ends | Yes |
| Istiḥāḍah | Illness blood, outside ḥayḍ limits | No | No (wudū per prayer) |
| Nifās | Postnatal (childbirth) bleeding | Yes (a cause of obligatory ghusl) | Yes |
Scope note: the course lists nifās as a cause of obligatory ghusl and treats it like ḥayḍ, but the handout does not give specific nifās day-counts — so don't quote a nifās maximum. Update: nifās was later taught in full in the first Semester-2 class — durations (a moment / 40 / 60 days) and rulings are in Sem 2 Fiqh · Lesson 1.
3 · What is prohibited during Ḥayḍ
- Prayer — and she does NOT make up missed prayers.
- Reciting the Qurʾān, touching or carrying the muṣḥaf.
- Staying in the mosque (passing through is allowed if no fear of soiling it).
- Ṭawāf around the Kaʿbah.
- Fasting — and she MUST make up the missed fasts (qaḍāʾ).
- Intercourse and direct contact between the navel and the knees.
Memory hook: fasts are made up, prayers are not. Once the menses ends, fasting becomes obligatory even before ghusl (but she cannot pray until she does ghusl).
4 · Two special handout rulings
Cat hair
- Majority (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Ḥanbalī): cat hair is pure — whether attached or fallen off while the cat is alive (the cat itself is pure: "It is not impure; it is one of those that move among you").
- Shāfiʿī: detached cat hair is impure if it separates while the cat is alive ("whatever is cut from a living creature is dead"); the cat's body is pure during life, but they recommend avoiding the detached hair.
- Preferred view: the majority — pure in all cases (ease, and the explicit hadith).
Covering the head when entering the toilet
- No authentic hadith from the Prophet ﷺ establishes it (the narrations are weak).
- Authentically reported from the Salaf — Abū Bakr covered his head out of modesty.
- Some scholars (al-Nawawī, al-Ghazālī, etc.) called it a recommended etiquette (mustaḥabb).
- Not obligatory — no sin or dislike on whoever leaves it; a praiseworthy adab of modesty for whoever does it.
Depth, proofs and madhhab detail from Sheikh Haris Rashadi's recorded lectures (videos 20 & 9) —
behind the points in the Learn tab. Tag ▶ V20 §12 = video 20, section 12.
Off-topic stories & Q&A are kept in From the lectures so nothing is lost.
1 · Ḥayḍ — puberty, definition & the daleel
- Puberty (bulūgh) by three signs: (1) manī — discharge of semen (both sexes, even in sleep); (2) ḥayḍ — for women; (3) otherwise completing 15 lunar years. At bulūgh she becomes mukallaf — obligations bind and missed duties must be made up. ▶ V20 §14–20
- Why ~9 lunar years? The age was reached by istiqrāʾ (inductive research) — Imām ash-Shāfiʿī & Imām Aḥmad studied many women's patterns; onset shifts a little by climate, diet & lifestyle, but for most it is about nine. ▶ V20 §18–19
- Word meaning: ḥayḍ = "flowing," from حَاضَ الْوَادِي — "the valley overflowed / flowed." Technically: natural blood from the innermost womb (raḥim) after puberty, in health. ▶ V20 §41–43
- Qurʾānic daleel: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ ۖ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ — al-Baqarah 2:222. From فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ ("when they purify themselves") the scholars derive that she must do ghusl when ḥayḍ ends. ▶ V20 §47–48
- The durations are not in an explicit hadith — the scholars fixed them via ijmāʿ, qiyās and istiqrāʾ (research). ▶ V20 §73
2 · The durations & how to check it has stopped
- Intermittent bleeding — the 24-hour tally rule: the 1-day minimum need not be continuous — an hour here, four hours there, spread across up to 5 days; if it totals 24 hours over that span it counts as ḥayḍ. ▶ V20 §24, §26
- The cloth/swab stop-test: to confirm it has stopped, insert a clean piece of cloth/cotton — if there is any trace of colour, the period continues; only when the cloth shows no trace at all does she do ghusl and resume worship. ▶ V20 §31–32, §77
- Don't needlessly delay the stop-check — wait an extra "safe" day and you can lose a fast and prayers. ▶ V20 §78
- The regular woman (muʿtādah): a woman with a fixed habit (e.g. 6 days each month) follows her known habit, capped at the 15-day ceiling; beyond 15 days it is istiḥāḍah and she prays. ▶ V20 §79–80
- Stop before Fajr → fast valid: if ḥayḍ stops before the Ṣubḥ adhān she forms the niyyah and her fast counts even before ghusl (the same rule applies to a junub man); but for prayer she must do ghusl first. ▶ V20 §50–51
- Ḥayḍ vs istiḥāḍah: ḥayḍ is natural womb-blood in health; istiḥāḍah is disease-blood (below the 1-day minimum or beyond the 15-day maximum) — a different ruling, she still prays. ▶ V20 §28–29, §44
Honest gap: the recorded lecture tees up the full istiḥāḍah treatment as "the next matter" (V20 §100) but the video ends before delivering it — so the detailed mustaḥāḍah rulings are not in this source. (And the lecture gives no nifās day-counts — don't quote a nifās maximum.) ▶ V20 §100 Update: the nifās day-counts were taught in the first Semester-2 class — see Sem 2 Fiqh · Lesson 1.
3 · Cat hair — the Shāfiʿī maxim & its daleel
- The hadith of the cat: إِنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ بِنَجَسٍ، إِنَّهَا مِنَ الطَّوَّافِينَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَالطَّوَّافَاتِ — "She is not impure; she is one of those that go round about among you." Narrated via Kabshah bint Kaʿb ibn Mālik, who saw Abū Qatādah tilt the vessel for a cat to drink. ▶ V09 §6–7
- Jumhūr (Mālikī, Ḥanafī, Ḥanbalī) — two grounds: (1) house-rovers that constantly circle you are excused as pure; (2) a cat unavoidably brushes you, and shed hair grew while it was alive, so it is pure. ▶ V09 §9
- The Shāfiʿī maxim (qāʿidah): مَا أُبِينَ مِنْ حَيٍّ فَهُوَ مَيِّتٌ — "what is severed from a living animal is [as] dead/carrion" — so hair detaching from a live cat takes the maytah ruling and is najis (admits exceptions, e.g. bee-honey). ▶ V09 §14
- Daleel for the maxim: مَا قُطِعَ مِنَ الْبَهِيمَةِ وَهِيَ حَيَّةٌ فَهُوَ مَيِّتَةٌ — "whatever is cut off from a beast while it is alive is carrion" (said when Madīnans cut fat-tails / aliyāt from live sheep & camels). ▶ V09 §20–21
- Refinements: the rule turns on whether the animal is lawfully slaughterable; a human is exempt (pure alive, shed or dead); a properly-slaughtered (ḥalāl) animal raises no impurity. The Shāfiʿī facing genuine hardship (a house-cat) may take the easier jumhūr view (pure). ▶ V09 §4, §16, §18, §22
4 · Covering the head in the toilet — grading the evidence
- The marfūʿ narration is weak: the report that the Prophet ﷺ covered his head entering the toilet (via al-Bayhaqī) is mursal (disconnected) — there is no ṣaḥīḥ marfūʿ hadith for it. ▶ V09 §24–25
- It is an athar, not a Prophetic hadith: an athar = a report from a Companion. Abū Bakr aṣ-Ṣiddīq said: "I will not enter the toilet except with my head covered" — preserved via al-Bayhaqī, Ibn Abī Shaybah & Ibn Ṭāwūs. ▶ V09 §27–28
- Why "recommended," not wājib: with no opposing authentic ḥadīth the Companion's practice stands; scholars rule it mustaḥabb because Abū Bakr did it, not because it was commanded. ▶ V09 §29, §39
- The scholars who held it: al-Nawawī (al-Majmūʿ), al-Juwaynī, al-Ghazālī, al-Baghawī (Shāfiʿī) and al-Mardāwī (Ḥanbalī) — ref. al-Mawsūʿah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyyah. ▶ V09 §30
- The uṣūl frame: with no ṣaḥīḥ Prophetic text, can a Companion's saying be ḥujjah? This is qawl aṣ-ṣaḥābī (disputed among the mujtahids). Ibn ʿUthaymīn: it is permissible to enter uncovered, but the scholars recommend covering — the rationale is ḥayāʾ (modesty). ▶ V09 §36, §42, §44
Lock the ḥayḍ numbers first — every one is a one-mark gift on the paper.
Ḥayḍ numbers
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum ḥayḍ | 1 day & night |
| Maximum ḥayḍ | 15 days & nights |
| Usual ḥayḍ | 6 or 7 days |
| Minimum purity (ṭuhr) between cycles | 15 days |
| Maximum purity | No limit |
| Puberty by age (if no other sign) | 15 lunar years (earliest signs after 9) |
Ḥayḍ vs Istiḥāḍah vs Nifās
| Ḥayḍ | Istiḥāḍah | Nifās | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature | Monthly natural | Illness (a vein) | Childbirth |
| Requires ghusl? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stops prayer/fasting? | Yes | No — wudū each prayer | Yes |
| Tell apart by | Colour & intensity (ḥayḍ = dark, thick); <1 day or >15 days = istiḥāḍah | ||
Forbidden in Ḥayḍ & the make-up rule
- Prayer — not made up. · Fasting — must be made up.
- Reciting / touching / carrying the muṣḥaf.
- Staying in the mosque (passing through OK). · Ṭawāf.
- Intercourse & contact between the navel and the knees.
Handout rulings
| Ruling | Bottom line |
|---|---|
| Cat hair | Majority (Ḥanafī/Mālikī/Ḥanbalī): pure always · Shāfiʿī: impure if detached while alive · preferred = pure |
| Covering head in toilet | No authentic hadith; recommended adab (mustaḥabb) per some scholars; not obligatory |
Extra exam facts (from the lectures)
| Point | Recall |
|---|---|
| Intermittent ḥayḍ | The 24h minimum may be tallied (not continuous) across up to 5 days |
| Stop-test | Clean cloth/swab — any trace of colour = continues; no trace = ghusl & resume |
| Muʿtādah (regular woman) | Follows her known habit, capped at the 15-day ceiling; beyond = istiḥāḍah |
| Qurʾān daleel | قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ — al-Baqarah 2:222 ("purify themselves" = ghusl) |
| Why ~9 lunar years | Fixed by istiqrāʾ (inductive research); durations via ijmāʿ + qiyās + istiqrāʾ, not an explicit hadith |
| Cat-hair maxim (Shāfiʿī) | مَا أُبِينَ مِنْ حَيٍّ فَهُوَ مَيِّتٌ — severed from the living = carrion; daleel مَا قُطِعَ مِنَ الْبَهِيمَةِ وَهِيَ حَيَّةٌ فَهُوَ مَيِّتَةٌ |
| Cat hadith | إِنَّهَا مِنَ الطَّوَّافِينَ عَلَيْكُمْ — via Kabshah bint Kaʿb / Abū Qatādah |
| Head-covering = athar | Marfūʿ is mursal/weak (al-Bayhaqī); rests on Abū Bakr's athar (al-Bayhaqī, Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn Ṭāwūs) → mustaḥabb, not wājib; Ibn ʿUthaymīn agrees |