Ruling on washing menstrual pads before throwing them away
Question Does a woman have to wash the towels she uses during her period before throwing them into the bin?. Praise be to Allah. None of the scholars – as far as we know – stated that women should wash menstrual pads on which there is some blood before throwing them away. Rather it seems…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
None of the scholars – as far as we know – stated that women
should wash menstrual pads on which there is some blood before throwing them
away. Rather it seems that the Sahaabiyaat did not wash these rags, and the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) knew of that but
there is no report that he told them not to do that. Al-Tirmidhi (64)
narrated that Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: It
was said: O Messenger of Allaah, should we do wudoo’ from Bi’r Budaa’ah [a
well]? It is a well in which menstrual rags, the flesh of dogs and rotten
things are thrown. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “Water is a means of purification and nothing
makes it impure.” It is a saheeh hadeeth; it was classed as saheeh by
Ahmad, Yahya ibn Ma’een, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Taymiyah and others (may Allaah
have mercy on them).
It seems that they used to throw them away when they were
stained with blood, otherwise the Sahaabah would not have asked about the
purity of the water in which these rags were found.
The hadeeth does not mean that they used to throw these
things into the well deliberately, because the Sahaabah (may Allaah be
pleased with them) were greater and better than that. Rather what is meant
is that the well was in the bed of some wadi, and when the rain came the
flood would carry these things and throw them in the well.
And Allaah knows best.
