Fatwa ID: 05205
Answered by: Maulana Syed Johir Miah
Question
Does an Internal Pregnancy Check Necessitate a Ghusl?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Your question is whether an internal pregnancy check necessitates ghusl.
There are few different types of tests that are carried out by the GP or a practitioner, in which it involves inserting something into the female private parts.
- An internal bimanual exam is when the doctor places one or two gloved fingers in the patient’s vagina and the other hand on top of the patient’s lower abdomen, to feel the patient’s cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.
- A smear test or cervical screening is carried out by a gynecologist to check the health of the patient’s cervix. The cervix is the opening to the womb from the vagina.
This test involves the practitioner taking a sample of cells from the cervix (neck of the womb) by inserting a device called a speculum (a device that holds the vagina open)in the vagina. It is not a test for cancer, it is a test to help prevent cancer.
Both of these methods do not necessitate ghusl [1]. However, this will break ablution.[2]
As for inserting medicine into a woman’s vagina, our [Hanafi] scholars have stated that her fast is invalidated by consensus because there is an opening in her bladder which results in the substance reaching the stomach.[3]
In view of this, according to the view of classical Hanafi jurists (fuqaha), a cervical smear test would invalidate a woman’s fast, since it involves inserting a lubricated speculum fully into her vagina.
After an internal examination, a woman does not have to bathe. A wudhu will suffice [4] in order for her to read salah etc., as she is not impure.
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Syed Johir Miah
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
[1] وإدخال إصبع ونحوه في أحد السبيلين
Nurul Idah, 28/1, Al-Maktabatul Asriyyah, 2005. Maraqiyul Falah, 44/1, Al-Maktabatul Asriyyah, 2005.
[2] وجوب الغسل يتعلق بأحد معان ثلاثة الجنابة والحيض والنفاس،
Tuhfatul Fuqaha, Samarqandi, 26/1, Darul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, 1414 H
[3] وأمّا الإقْطارُ فِي قُبُلِ المَرْأةِ فَقَدْ قالَ مَشايِخُنا: إنّهُ يُفْسِدُ صَوْمَها بِالإجْماعِ، لِأنَّ لِمَثانَتِها مَنفَذًا فَيَصِلُ إلى الجَوْفِ كالإقْطارِ فِي الأُذُنِ.
Bada’i As-Sana’i, 2/93, Darul Kutub Al-Ilmiyyah, 1406 H.
[4] عَنْ جابِرٍ أنَّ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ قالَ: «الوُضُوءُ مِمّا يَخْرُجُ ولَيْسَ مِمّا يَدْخُلُ
Musnad Ibn Ja’ad, 449/1, Muassisah Nadir, Beirut, Lebanon, 1440 H.
إنما الوضوء ينتقض مما يخرج وليس مما يدخل Al-Asl, Imam Muhammad, 45/1, and 58/1, Idaratul Quran,
