Does a Woman Wash Her Inner and Outer Lips?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Can you please clarify this thing? Is a woman Islamically obliged to wash her labia minora because that is where the urethra opening is? I have heard that we’re obliged to wash our outer area only. Does labia minora come in the outer area, too? Please clarify.
Jazak Allah
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
A woman must wash her inner lips, labia majora, and outer lips, labia minora, during a purificatory bath (ghusl).
The obligatory integrals of the ghusl are to rinse the mouth, nose, entire body, the external orifice of the genitals, and skin underneath the eyebrows and to wet the nave thoroughly and inside any hole that is not sealed.
[Ibn ʿAbidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Manhal al-Waridin]
Advice
Every woman must record her menses, lochia, and purity habits. The date and time any vaginal blood begins, including the spotting of blood, and the date and time any vaginal blood ends.
I advise contacting a local reliable female scholar who is well-versed in menstruation matters. Also, try to attend any on-the-ground and online courses on menstruation. Also, at your first instance, buy books related to the topic; some are in the link below.
It is a personal obligation (fard) for every adult woman to learn the basic rules of menstruation and to ask, as you’ve done, in the case of a complicated or unique situation). The books Woman’s Guide to Menstruation Rulings by Naielah Ackbarali and Coming of Age by Ustadha Hedaya Hartford are very accessible books for learning these rulings. They are in English and have many practical examples, life experiences, and even illustrative charts to calculate menstruation.
Also, you can download a first-ever menstruation period tracking app, which is personalized for Muslim women to understand menses, purity, irregular bleeding, lochia, etc., at first glance! The application is in harmony with religious scholarship.
Related Answers
- How Do I Perform My Missed Prayers and Current Prayers in a State of Irregular Bleeding (Istihada)? – SeekersGuidance
- Menstruation: A Comprehensive Reader – SeekersGuidance
- A Muslim Woman’s Guide To Menstruation Rulings: Amazon.co.uk: Ackbarali, Naielah(Recommended book)
- Coming of Age by Hedaya Hartford (Recommended book)
- myhayd.app | First Ever Islamic Period Tracking App Personalized For Muslim Women | Hayd Tuhr Istihadah Nifaas Pregnancy
- FREE Fiqh of Menstruation Video Series
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
