Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:222
And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى ("And they ask you about menstruation. Say: it is a harm") (2:222).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "and they ask you about menstruation (al-maḥīḍ)": and your companions ask you, O Muḥammad, about menstruation (al-ḥayḍ).
* * *
It has been said: it is called "al-maḥīḍ" because, for a verb whose past tense has a fatḥa on the second radical and a kasra in the imperfect — as one says "ḍaraba yaḍribu (he struck, he strikes)," "ḥabasa yaḥbisu (he confined, he confines)," and "nazala yanzilu (he descended, he descends)" — the Arabs construct the verbal noun (maṣdar) on the pattern "al-mafʿal" and the noun (ism) on the pattern "al-mafʿil," such as "al-maḍrab" and "al-maḍrib" from "ḍarabtu (I struck)," and "nazaltu manzalan wa-manzilan (I descended into a lodging-place)." And it is heard in words with a yāʾ, an alif, and a yāʾ: "al-maʿīsh and al-maʿāsh," and "al-maʿīb and al-maʿāb," as Ruʾba said concerning al-maʿīsh:
"To you I complain of the hardness of livelihood (al-maʿīsh), and the passing of the years that have plucked out my feathers."
* * *
The people asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — according to what has been transmitted to us — about menstruation, because, before Allah made clear to them what they were to understand of His command, they would not stay together with a menstruating woman in one house, nor eat with her from one vessel, nor drink with her. Then Allah instructed them with this verse that what was obligatory upon them during the menstrual days of their wives was only this: that they avoid sexual intercourse with them, and nothing else beyond that — not lying beside them, not eating together with them, nor drinking together with them — as:
4231 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "and they ask you about menstruation" up to: حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ ("until they are pure"): The people of the jāhiliyya would not let a menstruating woman stay with them in one house, nor would she eat with them from one vessel. Then Allah, exalted is His mention, revealed concerning this, and forbade her private part as long as she menstruates, and permitted everything else: that she tend your head for you, eat with you from your food, and lie with you in your bed, provided she wears a waist-wrapper (izār) with which she covers herself before you.
4232 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the same.
* * *
It has been said: they asked about this because during the menstrual days they would avoid approaching them by the place from which the blood comes, and would approach them by their hindquarters. Thereupon Allah forbade them to approach them during their menstrual days until they are pure; then He permitted them — when they have become pure of their menstruation — to approach them by the place from which He had commanded them to abstain from them, and He forbade them under all circumstances to approach them by their hindquarters.
* Mention of who said that:
4233 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: Khaṣīf related to us, saying: Mujāhid related to me, saying: They would avoid the women during menstruation and approach them by their hindquarters. Thereupon they asked the Prophet ﷺ about this, and Allah revealed: "and they ask you about menstruation" up to: فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ ("and when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you") — in the private part, do not go beyond that.
* * *
It has been said: the one who asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this was Thābit ibn al-Daḥdāḥ al-Anṣārī.
4234 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related that to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى ("Say: it is a harm").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by it: say to whoever of your companions asks you, O Muḥammad, about menstruation: "it is a harm (adhā)."
* * *
"Al-adhā" is that by which one is hindered through something objectionable in it. It is called "adhā" in this place on account of its stench, its foulness, and its impurity; it encompasses several meanings among the kinds of harm, more than one.
* * *
The exegetes differed in explaining its interpretation, even though the meanings of part of what they said about it are close to one another.
Some of them said: His word "say: it is a harm" means: say: it is filth (qadhar).
* Mention of who said that:
4235 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word "say: it is a harm," he said: As for "adhā," that is filth.
4236 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "say: it is a harm," he said: that is filth.
* * *
Others said: say: it is blood.
* Mention of who said that:
4237 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "and they ask you about menstruation, say: it is a harm," he said: the harm is the blood.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ ("so keep away from women during menstruation").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "so keep away from women during menstruation": keep away from sexual intercourse with women and from copulating with them during their menstruation, as:
4238 — ʿAlī ibn Dāwud related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word "so keep away from women during menstruation," he says: keep away from copulating with their private parts.
* * *
The people of knowledge differed about that from which a man must abstain with regard to the menstruating woman.
Some of them said: what is obligatory upon the man is to abstain from her entire body, that he touch anything of it with any part of his body.
* Mention of who said that:
4239 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: ʿAwf related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad, saying: I said to ʿAbīda: What is permitted to me of my wife when she menstruates? He said: the bed is one, but the coverings are separate.
4240 — Tamīm ibn al-Muntaṣir related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUrwa, on the authority of Nadba, the freedwoman of the family of ʿAbbās, she said: Maymūna bint al-Ḥārith — or: Ḥafṣa bint ʿUmar — sent me to the wife of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbbās, and between the two of them there was kinship on the maternal side. I found her bed separated from his bed, and she thought this arose from estrangement. I asked her about the separation of his bed from her bed, and she said: I menstruate, and when I menstruate he separates himself from my bed. I returned and conveyed that to Maymūna — or Ḥafṣa — and she sent me back to Ibn ʿAbbās: your mother says to you: have you turned away from the sunna of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?! By Allah, the Prophet ﷺ would sleep with the wife among his spouses while she was menstruating, and between him and her there was nothing but a garment that did not reach beyond the knees.
4241 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb and Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, saying: I said to ʿAbīda: What is permitted to a man of his wife when she menstruates? He said: the bed is one and the coverings are separate; and if he has nothing other than that he folds back something of his garment over her, then he folds back something of it over her.
* * *
The proponents of this view argued: that Allah, exalted is His mention, commanded to keep away from women in the state of their menstruation, and did not single out any part of them over another; that applies generally to their entire body, and it is obligatory to abstain during their menstruation from every part of their body.
* * *
Others said: no, that from which Allah, exalted is His mention, commanded to abstain is the place of the harm, and that is the place from which the blood comes.
* Mention of who said that:
4242 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: ʿUyayna ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jawshan related to me, saying: Marwān al-Aṣfar related to us, on the authority of Masrūq ibn al-Ajdaʿ, saying: I said to ʿĀʾisha: What is permitted to a man of his wife when she menstruates? She said: everything except sexual intercourse.
4243 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us = and Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us = on the authority of Qatāda, saying: It has been transmitted to us on the authority of ʿĀʾisha that she said: Where was he who had two beds and two coverings?!
4244 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, on the authority of Masrūq, saying: I said to ʿĀʾisha: What is forbidden to a man with regard to his wife when she menstruates? She said: her private part.
4245 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, from the book of Abū Qilāba: that Masrūq rode to ʿĀʾisha and said: Peace be upon the Prophet and upon the people of his house. ʿĀʾisha said: Abū ʿĀʾisha! Welcome! They gave him permission and he entered, and he said: I want to ask you about something, but I am ashamed! She said: I am only your mother, and you are my son! He said: What is permitted to a man of his wife when she menstruates? She said to him: everything except her private part.
4246 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Maymūn ibn Mihrān, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: Permitted to him is what is above the waist-wrapper (izār).
4247 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ: that ʿĀʾisha said concerning lying beside the menstruating woman: there is no objection to it, provided she wears a waist-wrapper.
4248 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, saying: I asked ʿĀʾisha: What is permitted to a man of his wife when she menstruates? She said: everything except the private part.
4249 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: When the menstruating woman places over her private part a garment, or something that holds back the harm, then there is no objection to her skin touching that of her husband.
4250 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he was asked: What is permitted to a man of his wife when she menstruates? He said: what is above the waist-wrapper.
4251 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Faḍīl related to us, on the authority of Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: Avoid of the blood the surface the size of the place of a sandal.
4252 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb informed us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Umm Salama, she said concerning lying beside the menstruating woman: there is no objection to it, provided over her private part there is a cloth.
4253 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: A man is permitted of his wife everything except the private part — namely when she menstruates.
4254 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: They spend the night under one cover — namely the menstruating woman — provided over the private part there is a garment.
4255 — Tamīm related to us, saying: Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Layth, saying: We were discussing in the presence of Mujāhid the man who dallies with his wife while she menstruates. He said: Thrust with your genitals wherever you wish, between the thighs, the buttocks, and the navel, as long as it is not in the hindquarters or the place of menstruation.
4256 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of ʿĀmir, he said: May a man touch his wife while she menstruates? He said: when she holds back the harm.
4257 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr related to me, saying: I heard ʿIkrima say: Everything of the menstruating woman is permitted to you, except the passage of the blood.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The argument of the proponent of this view is the establishment of the proof by the mass-transmitted (mutawātir) reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he would touch his wives while they were menstruating; and if it were obligatory to abstain from them entirely, then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not have done that. And since this is established as authentic from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, it is known that what Allah, exalted is His mention, intended by His word "so keep away from women during menstruation" is abstention from one part of her body and not from another part. And since that is so, it must be that this is the sexual intercourse over the prohibition of which to the husband in her front part there is consensus, and not that over which there was disagreement, namely copulating with her in the rest of her body.
* * *
Others said: no, that from which Allah, exalted is His mention, commanded to abstain in the state of their menstruation is what lies between the navel and the knee, while what is above and below that of her is permitted.
* Mention of who said that:
4258 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Shurayḥ, he said: Permitted to him is what is above the navel — and he mentioned the menstruating woman.
4259 — Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Yazīd informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās was asked about the menstruating woman: what is permitted to her husband of her? He said: what is above the waist-wrapper.
4260 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb and Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Muḥammad, he said: Shurayḥ said: Permitted to him is what is above her navel.
4261 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of Wāqid ibn Muḥammad ibn Zayd ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUmar, he said: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab was asked: What is permitted to a man of the menstruating woman? He said: what is above the waist-wrapper.
* * *
The argument of those who held this view is the authenticity of the report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, namely what:
4262 — Ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to me about that, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Shaybānī related to us = and Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ḥafṣ related to us, saying: al-Shaybānī related to us = he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Shaddād ibn al-Hād related to us, saying: I heard Maymūna say: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wished to touch one of his wives while she was menstruating, he would command her and she would put on a waist-wrapper.
4263 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn Shaddād, on the authority of Maymūna: that the Prophet ﷺ would touch her while she was menstruating, above the waist-wrapper.
4264 — Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Aswad, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: When one of us menstruated, he would command her and she would put on a waist-wrapper, and then he would touch her.
4265 — Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of al-Shaybānī, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: When one of us menstruated, the Prophet ﷺ would command her to put on a waist-wrapper, and then he would touch her.
And similar reports thereof, the full mention of which would make the book too long to include all of them.
They said: What the Prophet ﷺ did of that is permitted, namely touching the menstruating woman below and above the waist-wrapper, and that is below the knee and above the navel; and what is beyond that of the body of the menstruating woman, it is obligatory to abstain from it, on account of the generality of the verse.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the views about that is the saying of the one who said: that a man is permitted of his menstruating wife what is above that which is covered by the waist-wrapper, and what is below it, on account of what we have mentioned of their argument.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ ("and do not approach them until they are pure").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed in its reading. Some of them read it: "ḥattā yaṭhurna" with a ḍamma on the hāʾ and without doubling. Others read it with doubling of the hāʾ and a fatḥa upon it.
As for those who read it with the light hāʾ and the ḍamma, they directed its meaning to: and do not approach the women in the state of their menstruation, until the menstrual blood ceases from them and they become pure. And with this interpretation a group of the exegetes spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
4266 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī and Muʾammal related to us, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "and do not approach them until they are pure," he said: the ceasing of the blood.
4267 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Sufyān — or ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad —: "and do not approach them until they are pure," until the blood ceases from them.
4268 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh al-ʿAtakī related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word "and do not approach them until they are pure," he said: until the blood ceases.
* * *
And as for those who read it with the doubling of the hāʾ and the fatḥa upon it, they meant by it: until they wash themselves with water. They doubled the ṭāʾ because they said: the meaning of the word is: ḥattā yataṭahharna (until they purify themselves); the tāʾ is assimilated into the ṭāʾ on account of the closeness of their places of articulation.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the two readings therein is the reading of the one who read: حَتَّى يَطَّهَّرْنَ ("until they purify themselves thoroughly") with the doubling and the fatḥa upon it, in the meaning of: until they wash — on account of the consensus of all that it is forbidden for the man to approach his wife after her menstrual blood has ceased, until she is pure.
* * *
They differed only about the "purification" (al-taṭahhur) that Allah, exalted is His mention, intended, and upon which He permitted to him copulating with her.
Some of them said: it is washing with water; it is not permitted to her husband to approach her until she has washed her entire body.
Some of them said: it is the ablution (wuḍūʾ) for prayer.
Others said: no, it is the washing of the private part; when she has washed her private part, then that is her purification by which copulating with her by her husband becomes permitted.
* * *
Since there is consensus of all that she does not become permitted to her husband upon the ceasing of the blood, until she purifies herself thoroughly, it is clear that the most correct of the two readings is the one that most removes confusion in the understanding of the hearer. And that is what we have chosen, since in the reading of the one who reads it with the light hāʾ and the ḍamma there is something by which one is not safe from confusion in the hearer through error in its interpretation, such that he supposes that it is permitted for the husband of the menstruating woman to copulate with her after her menstrual blood has ceased, but before her washing and purification.
* * *
The interpretation of the verse is then: and they ask you about menstruation, say: it is a harm, so keep away from sexual intercourse with your women during the time of their menstruation, and do not approach them until they wash and purify themselves of their menstruation after its ceasing.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ ("and when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "and when they have purified themselves, then approach them": when they wash and purify themselves with water, then copulate with them.
* * *
If someone says: Is copulating with them then obligatory at that moment?
Then it is said: no.
If he says: Then what is the meaning of His word "then approach them"?
Then it is said: that is the permission of what was previously forbidden of copulating with them, and a release of what was forbidden during menstruation, like His word: وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَاصْطَادُوا ("and when you have left the state of consecration, then hunt") [Surah al-Māʾida: 2], and His word: فَإِذَا قُضِيَتِ الصَّلاةُ فَانْتَشِرُوا فِي الأَرْضِ ("and when the prayer is performed, then disperse over the earth") [Surah al-Jumuʿa: 10], and what resembles that.
* * *
The exegetes differed about the interpretation of His word "and when they have purified themselves."
Some of them said: its meaning is: when they wash.
* Mention of who said that:
4269 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and when they have purified themselves," he says: when she has become pure of the blood and has purified herself with water.
4270 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī and Muʾammal related to me, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and when they have purified themselves," when they wash.
4271 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh al-ʿAtakī related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word "and when they have purified themselves," he says: they wash themselves.
4272 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Sufyān — or ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad —: "and when they have purified themselves," when they wash.
4273 — ʿImrān ibn Mūsā related to us, ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, ʿĀmir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: concerning the menstruating woman who sees the purity, he said: her husband does not approach her until she washes and prayer becomes permitted to her.
4275 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm: that he disapproved of his having intercourse with her until she washes — namely the woman when she has become pure.
* * *
Others said: its meaning is: when they purify themselves for prayer.
* Mention of who said that:
4276 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Layth informed us, on the authority of Ṭāwūs and Mujāhid that they both said: When the woman has become pure of the blood and her husband wishes to command her to perform the wuḍūʾ before she washes — when intense desire overcomes him — then he may approach her.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the two interpretations for the interpretation of the verse is the saying of the one who said: the meaning of His word "and when they have purified themselves" is: when they wash, on account of the consensus of all that she does not become pure by the wuḍūʾ with water with the purity by which prayer becomes permitted to her. And the saying does not escape therein from one of two matters:
= Either its meaning is: when they purify themselves from impurity, then approach them.
And if that is the meaning, then it would have to be necessary that as soon as the blood ceases from her, it is permitted for her husband to copulate with her, provided there is no visible impurity. This, if His word "and when they have purified themselves" were permissible to use for the purification from impurity; and I do not know that as permissible, except by forcedness of the expression.
= Or its meaning is: when they purify themselves for prayer. And in the consensus of all lies the proof that it is not permitted for her husband to copulate with her upon the ceasing of her menstrual blood, when there is no impurity, without the purification with water if she finds it = and that is the clearest proof that its meaning is: when they purify themselves with the purification that makes prayer valid for them.
And in the consensus of all of the community that prayer is permitted to her only after the washing, lies the clearest indication of the correctness of what we said: namely that copulating with her is forbidden except after the washing, and that the meaning of His word "and when they have purified themselves" is: when they wash and thus become pure with the purity that makes prayer valid for them.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ اللَّهُ ("then approach them from where Allah has commanded you").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed about the interpretation of His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you."
Some of them said: its meaning is: approach your women, when they have purified themselves, by the manner by which I forbade you to approach them in the state of their menstruation, and that is: the private part, in which Allah commanded not to copulate with them in the state of menstruation.
* Mention of who said that:
4277 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, saying: Abān ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: from where He commanded you to abstain from them.
4278 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he says: in the private part, do not go past it to anything else; whoever does anything of that has transgressed the limits.
4279 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Khālid al-Ḥadhdhāʾ related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: from where He commanded you to abstain.
4280 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Abū Ṣakhr related to us, on the authority of Abū Muʿāwiya al-Bajalī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that he said: While I and Mujāhid were sitting with Ibn ʿAbbās, a man came to him and remained standing over his head and said: O Abū al-ʿAbbās — or: O Abū al-Faḍl — will you not heal me concerning the verse of menstruation? He said: Indeed! And he recited: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ ("and they ask you about menstruation") to the end of the verse, and Ibn ʿAbbās said: from where the blood comes, from there you are commanded to approach.
4281 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of ʿUthmān, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: The hindquarters of the woman are the same as those of the man. Then he recited: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ ("and they ask you about menstruation") up to "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: from where He commanded you to abstain from them.
4282 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: they were commanded to approach them from where it was forbidden to them.
4283 — Ibn Abī al-Shawārib related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: Khaṣīf related to us, saying: Mujāhid related to me: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," in the private part, and do not go past that.
4284 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he says: when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where it was forbidden during menstruation.
4285 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of Sufyān — or: ʿUthmān ibn al-Aswad —: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," by your abstaining from them therein.
4286 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," that is to say: by the manner by which the menstruation comes, while she is pure and not menstruating, and do not go past that to anything else.
4287 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: pure, without sexual intercourse and without menstruation, by the manner by which the menstruation comes, and he does not go past that to anything else = Saʿīd said: I know it only from Ibn ʿAbbās.
4288 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word "and when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," from where it was forbidden to you during menstruation = and on the authority of his father, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "and when they have purified themselves, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," from where it was forbidden to them, and beware of the hindquarters.
4289 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father, on the authority of Yazīd ibn al-Walīd, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: in the private part.
* * *
Others said: its meaning is: approach them by the manner by which Allah has commanded you to approach them. And that manner is purity (al-ṭuhr), not menstruation. The meaning of the one who said that about the verse is: approach them at the beginning of their purity, not at the beginning of their menstruation.
* Mention of who said that:
4290 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he means that he approaches her while she is pure and not menstruating.
4291 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Abū Razīn, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: at the beginning of the purity.
4292 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Razīn, the same.
4293 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Abū Razīn: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he says: approach them from purity.
4294 — Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: ʿAlī ibn Hāshim related to us, on the authority of al-Zibriqān, on the authority of Abū Razīn: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: at the beginning of the purity, and do not approach them at the beginning of the menstruation.
4295 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh al-ʿAtakī related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he says: when they wash, then approach them from where Allah has commanded you. He says: pure, not menstruating.
4296 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said, he says: pure, not menstruating.
4297 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word "from where Allah has commanded you," from purity.
4298 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayṭ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "then approach them," pure, not menstruating.
4299 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: approach them while they are pure, not menstruating.
4300 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Salama ibn Nubayṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: pure, not menstruating, in the front part.
* * *
Others said: no, its meaning is: approach the women by the way of marriage, not by the way of fornication (al-fujūr).
* Mention of who said that:
4301 — ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl al-Azraq related to us, on the authority of Abū ʿUmar al-Asadī, on the authority of Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya: "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you," he said: by the permitted, by marriage.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the views about the interpretation of that, in my opinion, is the saying of the one who said: its meaning is: approach them at the beginning of their purity. That is because every command to a thing is a prohibition of its opposite and its contrary; and likewise the prohibition of a thing is a command to its contrary and its opposite. If the meaning of His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you" were: approach them by the exit of the blood from where I forbade you to approach them in the state of their menstruation — then it would be necessary that His word وَلا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ ("and do not approach them until they are pure") would have as interpretation: and do not approach them by the exit of the blood, and nothing else besides that of the places of her body; such that during menstruation approaching them by their hindquarters would be permitted.
And in the consensus of all = that Allah, exalted is His mention, during menstruation permitted nothing of approaching them by their hindquarters that He forbade in the state of purity, nor in the state of purity forbade anything of that which He permitted in the state of menstruation = lies that by which one knows the invalidity of this saying.
Moreover, if its meaning were as the proponents of this view interpreted it, then it would be necessary that the text read: and when they have purified themselves, then approach them in (fī) that which Allah has commanded you — so that the meaning of the saying would then be in agreement with the interpretation he gave it, and it would be a command to approach them in their private parts. For the customary expression, when that is meant, is that one says: "so-and-so approached his wife by way of (min qibal) her private part" — and one does not say: he approached her out of (min) her private part — unless he approached her by way of her private part in a place other than the private part.
* * *
If someone says to us: even if that is so, yet the meaning of the saying is not: approach them in their private parts — rather its meaning is only: approach them by their front part in their private parts — as one says: "I approached this matter by its access (maʾtā)."
Then it is said to him: if that is so, then there is no doubt that the access of the matter and its manner is something other than the matter itself, and that this is the path to it. And if that is as you claim, then the meaning of His word "then approach them from where Allah has commanded you" must necessarily be something other than what you claimed its meaning to be by your saying: approach them by the exit of the blood, and from where you were commanded to abstain from them — rather, the necessary thing is that its interpretation be thus: approach them by their fronts in their front part, just as the saying of the speaker "approach the matter by its access" only means: seek it by its place of seeking, and the place of seeking of the matter is something other than the sought matter. Likewise the access of the private part — which Allah, in their saying, commanded to approach — must be something other than the private part.
And since that is so, and the meaning of the saying in their view is: approach them by their fronts in their private parts — then according to their saying it would necessarily be forbidden to approach them in their private parts by their hindquarters. And if they were to say that, then whoever says that places himself outside the saying of the people of Islam, and acts in contradiction to the explicit text of the Book of Allah, exalted is His mention, and to the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. For Allah says: نِسَاؤُكُمْ حَرْثٌ لَكُمْ فَأْتُوا حَرْثَكُمْ أَنَّى شِئْتُمْ ("Your women are a tillage for you, so approach your tillage as you wish"), and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave permission to approach them in their private parts by their rear side.
It has then become clear — since the matter is as we have described — the invalidity of the interpretation of the one who said: approach them in their private parts from which I forbade you to approach them in the state of their menstruation = and the correctness of the saying we have made, namely that its meaning is: approach them in their private parts by the way from which Allah has permitted you to approach them, and that is the state of their purity and their purifying themselves, not the state of their menstruation.
* * *
Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ ("Truly, Allah loves the repentant and He loves those who purify themselves") (222).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "truly, Allah loves the repentant": those who return from turning away from Allah and from His obedience, to Him and to His obedience. We have already expounded the meaning of "repentance" (al-tawba) earlier.
* * *
They differed about the meaning of His word "and He loves those who purify themselves."
Some of them said: they are those who purify themselves with water.
* Mention of who said that:
4302 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Ṭalḥa related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning His word "truly, Allah loves the repentant," he said: the repentant from sins = "and He loves those who purify themselves" = he said: those who purify themselves with water for prayer.
4303 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Ṭalḥa related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, the same.
4304 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ: "truly, Allah loves the repentant" from sins, which they did not commit = "and He loves those who purify themselves," with water for the prayers.
* * *
Others said: its meaning is: "truly, Allah loves the repentant" from sins = "and He loves those who purify themselves" from approaching the hindquarters of women.
* Mention of who said that:
4305 — Aḥmad ibn Ḥāzim related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Nāfiʿ related to us, saying: I heard Sulaymān, the freedman of Umm ʿAlī, say: I heard Mujāhid say: Whoever approaches his wife in her hindquarters is not among those who purify themselves.
* * *
Others said: its meaning is: "and He loves those who purify themselves" from sins, that they do not return to them after repenting of them.
* Mention of who said that:
4306 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: "He loves the repentant" from sins, which they did not commit = "and He loves those who purify themselves" from sins, that they do not return to them.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the views about that is the saying of the one who said: "truly, Allah loves the repentant from sins, and He loves those who purify themselves with water for prayer." For that is the most predominant of its outward meanings.
That is because Allah, exalted is His mention, mentioned the matter of menstruation and forbade them the things they used to do in their jāhiliyya: their refraining from living together with the menstruating woman, eating with her, and drinking with her, and other things that the Exalted disapproved of in His servants. And when the companions of the Messenger of Allah asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for explanation concerning this, Allah, the Exalted, revealed to him concerning it, and made clear to them what He disapproves of and what He approves of and loves, and informed them that He loves, of His creatures, the one who returns to His good pleasure and His love, repentant of what He disapproves of.
And among what He made clear to them of that was: that He forbade them to approach their women, even if they have become pure of their menstruation, until they wash; then He said: وَلا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ ("and do not approach them until they are pure; and when they have purified themselves, then approach them"), for Allah loves those who purify themselves = He means by it: those who purify themselves from the major ritual impurity (janāba) and the minor impurities (aḥdāth) for prayer, and the women who purify themselves with water — from menstruation, the lochia of childbirth (nifās), the major ritual impurity, and the minor impurities.
* * *
He said "and He loves those who purify themselves" (al-mutaṭahhirīn, masculine) — and did not say "al-mutaṭahhirāt" (feminine) — although the mention of the purifying for the women preceded it, because that, with the mention of "al-mutaṭahhirīn," comprises the men and the women together. Had He mentioned that with the mention of "al-mutaṭahhirāt," then the men would have no share in it, and it would concern the women specifically. Thus Allah, exalted is His mention, comprised by the general mention all His servants who fall under the legal obligation, since He commanded them all to purify themselves with water, even though the causes that make purifying with water obligatory for them differ in some respects and agree in some.
