Sayyidah Umm Atiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: After attaining purity, we did not count murky or yellowish discharge as anything (menstruation). This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it. Umm al-Hudhayl refers to Hafsah bint Sirin.

Mussah al-Azdiyyah narrates: I performed Hajj and went to Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) and said: "O Mother of the Believers, Sayyiduna Samurah bin Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) orders women to make up the prayers missed during the days of menstruation." She said: "They should not make them up. Any woman among the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who was in postnatal bleeding would remain (from prayer) for forty nights, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order her to make up the prayers of the postnatal period." This hadith has a sahih (authentic) chain, and there is also a supporting report for it.

Sayyidah Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates: In the blessed time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), women in postnatal bleeding would remain (from prayer) for forty days or forty nights, and we (after childbirth) would apply wars (a yellow plant dye) to our faces because of dark blemishes.

Ibn Abi Mulaykah narrates: My maternal aunt, Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh, came to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) and said: "I fear that I will fall into the Fire (of Hell), for I leave the prayer for a year or two at a time." She said: "Wait until the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) comes." When he (peace and blessings be upon him) came, Sayyidah Aishah described the situation, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her: "Tell her to leave the prayer every month during the days of her menstruation, then take one ritual bath every day, then perform ablution at the time of every prayer, clean herself and bind a cloth, for this is an illness, or a strike from Satan, or due to a severed vein." This hadith is sahih (authentic), but the two Shaykhs did not record it with this wording, and Uthman bin Sa'd of Basrah is trustworthy (thiqah).

Sayyiduna Uthman bin Abi al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say that he (peace and blessings be upon him) had set forty days as the period of postnatal bleeding for women. If this chain is sound, then it is a sahih (authentic) mursal, because Imam Hasan al-Basri's hearing from Sayyiduna Uthman bin Abi al-As is not established.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A woman in postnatal bleeding should wait forty nights. If she becomes pure before that, she is pure; and if she exceeds forty days, she is in the position of a woman with istihadah: she should take a ritual bath and pray, and if the blood overwhelms her, she should perform ablution for every prayer." Amr bin al-Husayn and Muhammad bin Ulathah do not meet the condition of the two Shaykhs, but I have mentioned it as a supporting report.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When seven days have passed for a woman in postnatal bleeding and she then sees purity, she should take a ritual bath and pray." Imam Muslim cited Baqiyyah bin al-Walid as supporting evidence, and al-Aswad bin Tha'labah is a well-known Syrian narrator; however, this hadith is gharib (unusual) in this chapter.

Sayyiduna Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Some goats were gathered with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu Dharr, go out with them (to the pasture)." So I went out to al-Rabadhah. There I would become junub and would spend five or six days in that state. Then I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Abu Dharr!" I remained silent. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May your mother lose you, woe to your mother!" Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) called a slave girl, who brought a large vessel of water. She screened me with a cloth, and I screened myself behind the mount and took a ritual bath, and I felt as though a mountain had been lifted off me. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Clean earth is the ablution of a Muslim, even if (he finds no water) for ten years. When you find water, let it touch your skin (that is, perform ghusl or ablution), for that is better." This hadith is sahih (authentic), but only Abu Qilabah narrated it from Amr bin Bujdan, and this is in line with my principle, as the two Shaykhs have taken such narrations.

It is narrated from Abu Qays, the freed slave of Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him), that Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As was the commander of a detachment, and they faced such severe cold as had never been seen before. When he went out for the dawn prayer, he said: "By Allah, I had a wet dream last night, but by Allah, I have never seen cold like this. Have you also felt such cold?" They said: "No." So he washed his private parts, performed the ablution of prayer and led them in prayer. When they reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "How did you find Amr and his companions?" They praised him and said: "O Messenger of Allah, he led us in prayer while he was junub." He (peace and blessings be upon him) summoned him and asked him, and he told him about the severe cold and said: "O Messenger of Allah, Allah says: 'And do not kill yourselves' [An-Nisa: 29] , and if I had bathed I would have died." At this, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled. This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs, but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Amr bin al-As (may Allah be pleased with him): On a cold night during the expedition of Dhat al-Salasil I had a wet dream, and I feared that if I took a ritual bath I would perish. So I performed tayammum and then led my companions in the dawn prayer. They mentioned this to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Amr, did you lead your companions in prayer while you were junub?" I told him the reason for not bathing and said: I heard Allah say: "And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is ever Merciful to you" [Surah An-Nisa: 29] . At this, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) smiled and said nothing. This narration of Jarir bin Hazim does not undermine the narration of Amr bin al-Harith, which connects the chain by mentioning Abu Qays, for the people of Egypt know their own hadith better than the people of Basrah.