Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
- It is a general rule that anything that exits from the private parts nullify ritual ablution (wudu), either for men or women.
- However, the ‘chronic vaginal discharge’ (rutubat al-farj) that comes out normally and regularly, and is clear and not discolored, it doesn’t nullify wudu.
Answering your question, Dr. Wael Shehab, PhD in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University and currently the Imam of the Downtown Toronto Masjid in Canada, states:
The basic ruling is that anything that exits from either private parts nullifies ritual ablution (wudu), for both men and women.
This includes all female discharge, except one type; the discharge that does not nullify ritual ablutions and is considered ritually clean (tahir) is the ‘chronic vaginal discharge’ (rutubat al-farj) that comes out normally and regularly, and is clear and not discolored.
Some scholars explain it to be akin to the ‘sweating of the vaginal walls.’ When reasonably possible, a woman may renew her ritual ablution in such cases. However, when it is difficult to do so, such as at work or school, there is nothing wrong with following this ruling.
Most properly, the discharge that some sisters experience while praying falls under the type of ‘chronic vaginal discharge’; if it is so, then they could continue their prayers normally.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.