Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi and Zayd ibn Aslam from Sulayman ibn Yasar that al-Ahwas died in Syria when his wife had begun her third menstrual period after he had divorced her. Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan wrote and asked Zayd ibn Thabit about that. Zayd wrote to him, "When she began her third period, she was free from him and he was free from her, and he does not inherit from her nor she from him."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Hisham ibn Urwa from his father from Fatima bint al-Mundhir ibn az-Zubayr that Asma bint Abu Bakr as-Siddiq said, "A woman questioned the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, 'If menstrual blood gets onto our clothes how do you think we should deal with it?' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'If menstrual blood gets onto your clothes you should wash them, and sprinkle them with water before you pray in them.' "

Bakkar ibn Yahya said that his grandmother narrated to him: I entered upon Umm Salamah. A woman from the Quraysh asked her about praying with the clothes which a woman wore while she menstruated.

Umm Salamah said: We would menstruate in the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (saws). Then each one of us refrained (from prayer) during menstrual period. When she was purified, she would look at the clothe in which she menstruated. If it were smeared with blood, we would wash it and pray with it; if there were nothing in it, we would leave it and that would not prevent us from praying with it (the same clothe).

As regards the woman who had plaited hair - sometimes each of us had plaited hair - when she washed, she would not undo the hair. She would instead pour three handfuls of water upon her head. When she felt moisture in the roots of her hair, she would rub them. Then she would pour water upon her whole body.

A woman asked the Prophet (Hadith 456).

Narrated `Aisha:

A woman asked the Prophet about the periods: How to take a bath after the periods. He said, "Take a perfumed piece of cloth and clean yourself with it." She said,' "How shall I clean myself with it, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet said, "Clean yourself" She said again, "How shall I clean myself, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet said, "Clean yourself with it." Then I knew what Allah's Apostle meant. So I pulled her aside and explained it to her.

Malik related to me from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said, "The idda of an umm walad when her master dies is one menstrual period."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that Said ibn al- Musayyab said, "The idda of the woman who bleeds constantly is a year."

Malik said, "What is done among us about a divorced woman whose periods stop when her husband divorces her is that she waits nine months. If she has not had a period in them, she has an idda of three months. If she has a period before the end of the three months, she accepts the period. If another nine months pass without her having a period, she does an idda of three months. If she has a second period before the end of those three months, she accepts the period. If nine months then pass without a period, she does an idda of three months. If she has a third period, the idda of the period is complete. If she does not have a period, she waits three months, and then she is free to marry. Her husband can return to her before she becomes free to marry unless he made her divorce irrevocable."

Malik said, "The sunna with us is that when a man divorces his wife and has the option to return to her, and she does part of her idda and then he returns to her and then parts from her before he has had intercourse with her, she does not add to what has passed of her idda. Her husband has wronged himself and erred if he returned to her and had no need of her."

Malik said, "What is done among us is that if a woman becomes a muslim while her husband is a kafir and then he becomes muslim, he is entitled to her as long as she is in her idda. If her idda is finished, he has no access to her. If he remarries her after the end of her idda, however, that is not counted as divorce. Islam removed her from him without divorce."

The woman who has a prolonged flow of blood should wash herself every day when her menstrual period is over and take a woollen cloth greased with fat or oil (to tie over the private parts).

I asked the Prophet (saws) about the blood of menstruation on the clothe. He said: Erase it off with a piece of wood and then wash it away with water and the leaves of the lote-tree.