What Are the Two Signs of Purity from Menstruation?

The First Sign: The White Discharge

The white discharge is a white fluid known to some women. It appears at the end of menstruation after blood stops and after yellowish and brownish discharge disappear. It is a clear sign that menstruation has ended.

Women used to send to Aishah, the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her, a small container containing cotton with yellowish traces from menstrual blood, asking her about prayer. She would say to them:

"Do not be hasty until you see the white discharge," meaning purity from menstruation.

Narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta, and al-Bukhari mentioned it in suspended form with a wording of certainty.

The meaning is that a woman should not rush to perform ghusl while she is still seeing yellowish or brownish discharge connected to her menstruation and her sign of purity has not appeared.

The white discharge is not just any white discharge a woman sees during the rest of the month. Rather, it is a sign known to some women at the end of menstruation. It may be thin or small in amount, and it is not required that it come out in a large quantity.

The Second Sign: Complete Dryness

Complete dryness means the cessation of menstrual blood, yellowish discharge, and brownish discharge, such that if the woman gently checks with a clean piece of cotton or tissue at the outer area, it comes out clear from traces of blood and from yellow or brown color.

It is not required that the cotton be free of every natural moisture, because some women continue to have clear discharge or normal moisture. What is meant is that it comes out free of blood, yellowish discharge, and brownish discharge connected to menstruation.

Complete dryness is a recognized sign of purity, especially for women who do not normally see the white discharge. The scholars have stated that the white discharge and complete dryness are two signs of purity.

Must Every Woman Wait for the White Discharge?

No, women differ:

1. Whoever usually sees the white discharge, it is her clear sign of purity.
2. Whoever does not see it, or whose purity is normally known by complete dryness, acts upon dryness and does not wait for a fluid that does not come to her.
3. Whoever sees both signs and the matter becomes unclear to her, the appearance of the white discharge removes the uncertainty. As for relying on dryness before her usual habit of seeing the white discharge, there is detail among the scholars. Dryness is a recognized sign according to the majority, while it was reported from Imam Malik that she should wait for the white discharge if she usually knows it, because it is clearer in her case.

If yellowish or brownish discharge remains on the cotton, then complete dryness has not occurred in the first place, and the woman is still under the ruling of menstruation if that is connected to it.

How Can a Woman Check for Purity Without Waswasah or Harm?

When the end of her period is near, a woman checks in the normal way without exaggeration:

1. She uses a clean white piece of cotton or tissue gently at the outer area.
2. She looks to see whether blood, yellowish discharge, or brownish discharge connected to menstruation remains.
3. If it comes out clean from these traces, or she sees the white discharge that she knows, then the sign of purity has appeared.
4. She does not need deep checking, nor any method that causes pain or injury.
5. She is not required to check herself every few minutes. Rather, she checks at the normal times near the end of menstruation while considering prayer times, without burdening herself in a way that opens the door to waswasah.

The default is that menstruation remains until she is certain of purity, just as the default is that purity remains after it has been established until she sees something that moves it to another ruling. She should not build her worship on mere doubt.

What Is the Ruling on Yellowish and Brownish Discharge?

The ruling on yellowish and brownish discharge differs according to its timing and its connection to menstruation:

Yellowish and Brownish Discharge Before Purity

If yellowish or brownish discharge is connected to menstrual blood, and the woman has not seen the white discharge or complete dryness, then it is part of menstruation according to the majority of scholars. She should not rush to perform ghusl and pray until the sign of purity appears.

Yellowish and Brownish Discharge After Purity

If a woman sees the white discharge or complete dryness, then yellowish or brownish discharge appears after that, she does not count it as menstruation.

Umm Atiyyah, may Allah be pleased with her, said:

"We did not consider brownish or yellowish discharge after purity to be anything."

Narrated by Abu Dawud with an authentic chain. The basis of the hadith is in Sahih al-Bukhari without the wording: "after purity."

So the woman remains under the ruling of purity, prays and fasts, and she does not have to perform a new ghusl from menstruation merely because of yellowish or brownish discharge after purity. For more detail, see the article Rulings on Yellowish and Brownish Discharge Before and After Purity.

Purity is established by the appearance of its sign, not by performing ghusl itself. If a woman sees the white discharge or complete dryness, then yellowish or brownish discharge appears before she performs ghusl, it is yellowish or brownish discharge after purity and does not return her to the ruling of menstruation.

However, yellowish or brownish discharge after purity nullifies wudu according to the majority of scholars. The woman cleans the area and performs wudu for prayer, and she does not repeat the ghusl of menstruation. If the discharge is continuous, she follows the rulings of one who has a continuous hadath according to the fiqh details.

What If the Blood Stops Then Returns?

If the blood stops and then returns, several situations must be distinguished:

1. If the woman did not see a sign of purity, but the blood only became lighter or outwardly stopped while yellowish or brownish discharge remained, she is still under the ruling of menstruation.
2. If she saw clear purity by the white discharge or complete dryness, she performs ghusl and prays according to what appeared to her.
3. If clear blood returns after purity during a time in which it can be menstruation, it is not automatically treated like yellowish discharge after purity. It may be returning menstruation, and the clean interval between two bleedings is an issue of known disagreement among the jurists.
4. If stopping and returning repeat, or the bleeding becomes irregular or continuous, the woman should record the days, colors, and times of purity, then ask a trustworthy scholar about her specific situation.

The article What Should a Woman Do If Her Cycle Becomes Irregular? explains these cases in greater detail.

Should a Woman Wait Until the Number of Her Usual Days Ends?

A woman does not wait for the old number of days if the sign of purity appears before it ends. The habit may increase or decrease, and it may come earlier or later.

If her usual period is seven days, for example, then she sees the white discharge or complete dryness on the fifth day, she has become pure, so she performs ghusl and prays. She does not wait until the seventh day merely because it was the number of her previous habit.

Likewise, she does not judge herself pure merely because she reached the last day in an app or the usual number if blood, or connected yellowish and brownish discharge, is still present. The ruling is connected to the Islamic signs she sees, not to an electronic app alone.

What Must a Woman Do After Purity Is Confirmed?

When the sign of purity is confirmed, the woman moves to the rulings of purity, and the following becomes required:

First: Ghusl

She must perform ghusl from menstruation in order to return to prayer.

Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh, may Allah be pleased with her, said:

"O Messenger of Allah, I am a woman who has prolonged bleeding and I do not become pure. Should I leave prayer? The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: No. That is only a vein and is not menstruation. When menstruation comes, leave prayer, and when it goes away, wash the blood from yourself and pray."

Agreed upon.

The steps of ghusl can be learned in the article How a Woman Performs Ghusl from Menstruation and Postpartum Bleeding.

Second: Prayer

If a woman becomes pure during the time of a prayer, she must hasten to perform ghusl and pray before the time exits according to her ability.

If she becomes pure during Asr or Isha, the scholars differed: the majority of jurists, and this was narrated from Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, held that she prays Dhuhr with Asr, and Maghrib with Isha. The Hanafis, Zahiris, and a group of the early scholars, and Ibn Uthaymin chose this view, held that only the prayer in whose time she became pure is required. The more cautious course, to exit the disagreement, is to pray both prayers. If only a very short time remains, then the amount of time by which prayer is caught has details, so she should ask a trustworthy scholar about her situation.

A woman does not make up the prayers she left during the days of menstruation. This is from Allah’s ease upon her.

Mu'adhah, may Allah have mercy on her, said:

"I asked Aishah and said: Why does a menstruating woman make up the fast but not make up the prayer? She said: Are you a Haruriyyah? I said: I am not a Haruriyyah, but I am asking. She said: That used to happen to us, and we were commanded to make up the fast, but we were not commanded to make up the prayer."

Agreed upon.

Third: Fasting

If a woman is certain of purity before dawn and intends the Ramadan fast during the night, her fast is valid even if she does not perform ghusl until after dawn. But she must perform ghusl at a time that allows her to pray Fajr before its time exits.

As for if she does not become certain that purity occurred until after dawn, then the default is that she was menstruating at dawn, so the fast of that Ramadan day is not valid, and she makes it up later.

If she becomes pure during the daytime in Ramadan, she must make up that day. The scholars differed over whether she must refrain from eating and drinking for the rest of that day.

Fourth: Marital Relations

Marital relations through intercourse are not lawful until menstruation stops and the woman performs ghusl, because Allah says:

{And do not approach them until they are pure. And when they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has commanded you} [al-Baqarah: 222].

What If Bleeding Is Continuous?

Bleeding for most of the month does not mean that the woman remains menstruating for the entire period. Some of it may be menstruation and some of it may be istihadah, and the woman with istihadah prays and fasts after the end of her judged menstrual period.

When bleeding is continuous, the woman needs to consider her previous habit, the description of the blood, the time it appears, and the distinction between menstruation and istihadah, while also consulting a female doctor to know the medical cause. See the article The Difference Between Menstruation and Istihadah.

A woman should not leave prayer for weeks because of continuous bleeding without asking the people of knowledge and consulting a doctor.

Brief Practical Steps for Knowing Purity

1. Do not rely on the number of days or a period-tracking app alone.
2. Near the end of menstruation, check gently for the sign you know.
3. If you see the white discharge, you have become pure.
4. If you do not see the white discharge, complete dryness is your sign of purity.
5. Remaining blood, yellowish discharge, or connected brownish discharge means purity has not yet been established.
6. Yellowish and brownish discharge after confirmed purity are not menstruation.
7. When purity is confirmed, perform ghusl and pray; do not delay prayer until its time exits.
8. When bleeding is irregular or stopping repeats, record the details and ask a trustworthy scholar, while consulting a doctor when needed.

Common Mistakes

1. Waiting for a fixed number of days even though purity appears before they end.
2. Performing ghusl merely because bleeding became lighter while connected yellowish or brownish discharge remains.
3. Waiting for the white discharge even though the woman does not normally see it at all.
4. Treating every white discharge as the white discharge of purity without considering its timing and the woman’s habit.
5. Leaving prayer because of yellowish or brownish discharge that appeared after confirmed purity.
6. Repeating checks in a way that causes waswasah or harm.
7. Fully relying on a period-tracking app to establish menstruation or purity.
8. Treating every continuous bleeding as menstruation and leaving prayer for a long time.
9. Delaying ghusl after purity until the prayer time exits.
10. Issuing a ruling on an irregular case from a picture or general post without mentioning the sequence of days.

Related Articles

• How a Woman Performs Ghusl from Menstruation and Postpartum Bleeding
• Rulings on Yellowish and Brownish Discharge Before and After Purity
• What Should a Woman Do If Her Cycle Becomes Irregular?
• The Difference Between Menstruation and Istihadah