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Fatwa CenterRuling on discharges from the breasts other than milk
Question
Is the discharge from the breast ( other than milk ) impure ? Does it make the cloths impure ? Is there any hadith to show that it invalidate the wudu ?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and messenger. {C}
If those discharges are pus, then the pus is impure; the Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The jurists unanimously agreed that if pus comes out of the human body, it is impure because it is among the filthy things (khabaa’ith). Allaah says (what means): {…and prohibits for them the evil (khabaa’ith).}[Quran 7:157] The sound human nature considers it to be disgusting. When something is prohibited not due to its inviolability/sacredness, then it is evidence that it is impure because the meaning of impurity exists in pus because impurity is a name for whatever is disgusting. It is known that pus is considered by sound nature to be disgusting because it has been transformed to something impure and has a bad smell, and also because it is produced from blood, and blood is impure.” [End of quote]
As regards whether or not the discharge of pus invalidates Wudhoo’ (the minor ablution), the jurists differed about it. The Maalikis and Shaafi‘is are of the view that it does not invalidate ablution, whereas the view of the Hanbalis is that a large quantity of it invalidates Wudhoo’ while a small quantity does not. The view of the Hanafi school is that it invalidates the Wudhoo’ even if it is a small quantity that flows out of its source.
The Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The jurists differed about whether or not Wudhoo’ is invalidated by pus. The Maaliki and Shaafi‘i schools are of the view that ablution is not invalidated by pus being discharged from the body ... whereas the Hanafi school is of the view that the exiting of pus from the body to a place that is included in the legal obligation of purification invalidates the Wudhoo’. The Hanbali school is of the view that pus invalidates Wudhoo’ but it is only a large quantity of it that invalidates Wudhoo’ but not a small quantity … . Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: “A large quantity is that which is considered disgusting by everyone each according to his nature … .” [End of quote]
Moreover, the Hanafi School is of the view that Wudhoo’ is invalidated by the water that comes out of the breasts if it comes out because of illness, and it is not only invalidated by pus. They consider this water to be impure. Radd Al-Muhtaar, which is one of the books on Hanafi Fiqh, says about the things that invalidate Wudhoo’: “Blood, pus and water from wound and blisters, and water from blebs, or breasts, or eyes or ears because of illness …” [End of quote]
Also, according to Fiqh Al-'Ibaadaat, one of the books on the Hanafi Fiqh: “It is a condition that the pus flows from the location of the wound, i.e. the impurity exits and moves beyond its location, which requires purification, if only on a basis of desirability, such as blood, pus, and water from the breast and water from the navel and from the ear if it is due to an illness. And if it flows by pressing it, or whenever it comes out one wipes it away because if one leaves it, it flows, it is invalidating to Wudhoo’. However, if it flows out in scattered places and every time it flows one wipes it away, then in this case, it does not invalidate Wudhoo’.” [End of quote]
Finally, we are not aware of any Hadeeth that states that pus invalidates Wudhoo’, and the view that Wudhoo’ is not invalidated by pus coming out is the view we adopt here in Islamweb as long as it does not come out of the two outlets.
Allaah Knows best.
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