known to us except from the hadith of Abu Sahl, and he is trustworthy. Al-Khattabi said: Muhammad ibn Isma'il praised this hadith (8). Al-Hakam ibn 'Utaybah narrated from Mussah, from Umm Salamah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that she asked him: How long should a woman wait if she gives birth? He said: "Forty days, unless she sees purity before that." It was narrated by al-Daraqutni (9). This is also because it is the opinion of those we named from the Companions, and we do not know of any dissenter among them in their era, so it was a consensus. Al-Tirmidhi narrated it as a consensus, and Abu 'Ubayd narrated something similar. As for what they narrated from al-Awza'i, it is possible that the excess was menstruation or irregular bleeding (istihadah), just as if her blood exceeded sixty [days], or as if the blood of a menstruating woman exceeded fifteen days.

Section: If the blood of the woman experiencing postpartum bleeding exceeds forty days, and it coincides with the habit of menstruation, it is menstruation; if it does not coincide with a habit, it is irregular bleeding (istihadah). Ahmad said: If the blood continues for her, if it is during the days of her menstruation that she used to sit out, she refrains from prayer and her husband does not approach her. If she does not have [known] days, she is in the position of a woman with irregular bleeding; her husband approaches her, she performs ablution for every prayer, and she fasts and prays if Ramadan overtakes her, and she does not make them up. This indicates the same as what we have stated (10).

103 - Issue; he said: (And its minimum has no limit. Whenever she sees purity, she performs ghusl, and she is pure. Her husband should not approach her in the private part until she completes the forty [days] as a matter of preference.)

Al-Thawri and al-Shafi'i held this view. Malik, al-Awza'i, and Abu 'Ubayd said: If she does not see blood, she performs ghusl and prays. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan and Abu Thawr said: Its minimum is an hour. Abu 'Ubayd said: Its minimum is twenty-five days. Our evidence is that there is no specification of it in the Law (Shari'a), so one must return to what is actually found. It has been found in both small and large amounts, and it has been narrated that a woman gave birth during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and saw no blood, so she was called "the one with dryness" (dhat al-jufuf). Abu Dawud said: I discussed with Abu 'Abd Allah the hadith of Jarir: There was a woman called "the pure one" (al-tahir), who would give birth at the beginning of the day and become pure at the end of it. He began