Should a Woman Wash Toward the Inside When Performing Istinja?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

After urinating, the external part of the vagina, that is, labia majora and the visible part of the labia minora should, be washed, or can we put water in the internal area, which is inside the labia minora?

I have heard that only external areas have to be washed, but sometimes urine flows to the inner parts of the vagina. Do we have to clean it? If not then what about the uncleaned area inside?

Doesn’t it make our clothes impure and istinja incomplete? I usually do it by opening the inner lips and washing in the internal area. Does one’s fast get nullified by water entering the vagina during istinja?

Answer

The way you wash is fine, as water would purify the whole area this way, but be sure that water is not penetrating the private part, as that would invalidate the fast.

Wiping and Washing

It says in the Reliance of the Traveller

e9.5 Stones suffice to clean oneself, though it is best to follow this by washing with water. Anything can take the place of stones that is a solid, pure, removes the filth, is not something that deserves respect or is worthy of veneration, nor something that is edible (O: these being five conditions for the validity of using stones (N: or something else) to clean oneself of filth without having to follow it by washing with water).

But it is obligatory to wash oneself with water if:
One has washed away the filth with a liquid other than water, or with something impure;
One has become soiled with filth from a separate source;
One’s waste has moved from where it exited (n: reaching another part of one’s person) or has dried;
Or if feces spread beyond the inner buttocks (N: meaning that which is enfolded when standing), or urine moved beyond the head of the penis, though if they do not pass beyond them, stones suffice.

It is obligatory (N: when cleaning oneself with a dry substance alone) to both remove the filth, and to wipe three times, even when once is enough to clean it, doing this either with three pieces (lit: “stones”) or three sides of one piece. If three times does not remove it, it is obligatory to (N: repeat it enough to) clean it away (O: as that is the point of cleaning oneself. Nawawi says in ale Majmu’ that cleaning oneself (N: with a dry substance) means to remove the filth so that nothing remains but a trace that could not be removed unless one were to use water) (N: and when this has been done, any remaining effects of filth that could have only been removed with water are excusable).

An odd number of strokes is recommended. One should wipe from front to back on the right side with the first piece, similarly wipe the left with the second, and wipe both sides and the anus with the third. Each stroke must begin at a point on the skin that is free of impurity.

Please see more details here:
How Should One Properly Do Istinja and Wudu?
How Can I Know I Have Purified Myself Properly After Using the Toilet?
How Should One Properly Do Istinja and Wudu?

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.