Refuting the Claim That Intercourse With a Menstruating Woman Is Permissible if No Harm Results
Some have tried to derive from the verse on menstruation that if no harm results from intercourse with a woman during menstruation, it would be permissible — reinterpreting "adha" (harm) as mere hardship. This is not a sound interpretation. They claim that if there is no harm to the man nor to the woman, the intercourse would be permitted.
They take this from the verse: "They ask you about menstruation. Say, 'It is harm (adha).'" Is this a sound derivation? This is a strange claim — it has no basis. It is, in fact, a distortion of the words of Allah — a distortion of the Qur'an. There is scholarly consensus that what is meant by "adha" here is menstruation itself. This is one of the clear, established consensuses — that "adha" here refers to menstruation, not merely to physical harm in general. That is to say, if a woman is menstruating but there happens to be no physical harm to her, no sane person would say intercourse becomes permissible. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Do everything except intercourse (nikah)" — narrated by Muslim in his Sahih through Hammad ibn Salamah, from Thabit, from Anas. The scholars have reached consensus that the meaning of Allah's statement, "They ask you about menstruation. Say, 'It is harm,'" is that menstrual blood itself — the thing that prevents intercourse, prayer, and fasting — is the "harm" referred to. It is the blood itself. This is a matter of consensus among the scholars, one of the settled matters in Islamic law.
That is why, if a man had intercourse with a menstruating woman on the claim that "there is no harm," he would have committed a major sin from among the major sins. The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed over whether such a person must give charity as expiation or not. The most correct view is that the charity is not obligatory, because the hadith mentioning it is defective (ma'lul), and the correct ruling is that it is a statement stopped at the level of Ibn 'Abbas — not attributed to the Prophet ﷺ — though it is still recommended.
Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy on him, held that if ten days have passed since the onset of menstruation and the bleeding has stopped — even if she has not yet performed ghusl — intercourse becomes permissible with her. But as for during the flow of blood itself, during the menstrual period, no one has ever given a ruling of permissibility for that — there is agreement on this, whether at the beginning or the end of the period. This is a matter of scholarly consensus, based on the explicit text of the Qur'an.
The situation is: "So keep away from women during menstruation" — Allah did not say "keep away from women during harm" in general. He said, "keep away from women during menstruation," which is what they had asked about, namely "the harm." Notice carefully how Allah phrased this — He did not say "keep away from women during the harm"; He said "keep away from women during menstruation," because the "harm" is the blood that they had asked about when they said, "They ask you about menstruation" — so it was explained to them what menstruation is, and then Allah said, "So keep away from women during menstruation, and do not approach them" — meaning do not have intercourse with them — "until they are purified," meaning until the blood stops and they perform ghusl from their menstruation. Only then, as Allah said, "come to them from where Allah has commanded you."
It has also come in the two Sahihs that the Prophet ﷺ said, in effect, "Is it not the case that when she menstruates, she does not pray and does not fast?" "Everything except nikah" means intercourse — intercourse during the time of menstruation while blood is present. The reason ('illah), of course, is that it involves impurity — a person could end up transmitting impurity through it. This is forbidden and not permissible, even if the blood is minimal. It is not permitted until she is purified — until her blood stops and she performs ghusl as well.