Inzal (emission of seminal fluid and its legal effects)

Inzal in the lexical sense is coming down from height, and from it the emptying of a man's water. In the juristic sense it is the emission of a man's or woman's fluid by intercourse, by dream, by looking, or otherwise. ¹ Istimna' is narrower: bringing out seminal fluid without intercourse. ¹

• It is lawful within a valid marriage or lawful possession, and unlawful otherwise. ²
• It is forbidden during the day of Ramadan, for one in ihram for hajj or umra, and during obligatory i'tikaf. ²
• Emission by istimna' breaks the fast in the majority view; Abu Bakr ibn al-Iskaf and Abu al-Qasim among the Hanafis dissent. Emission by hand breaks i'tikaf. Emission by istimna' does not invalidate hajj or umra for the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, who require a sacrifice; the Malikis hold it invalidates both, with repayment and expiation, even when forgotten. ²
• Emission in a dream does not break the fast or i'tikaf, invalidate hajj, or require repayment, expiation or a fidya. ³
• If one dreams without emission there is no washing, agreed; if one emits, washing is required. ³
• Emission with gushing and desire requires washing by agreement. Where it occurs without gushing or desire, the majority do not require washing; the Shafi'is, a narration from Ahmad and a view of the Malikis do. ³

A woman is like a man in the rulings on emission, following the report of Umm Sulaym in which the Prophet ﷺ told a woman who sees what a man sees to wash. ³ The jurists differ on what establishes it. The Hanafis, most Malikis, and the Hanbalis and Shafi'is for a married woman hold that it is established when the fluid reaches the place washed in istinja'; Sanad al-Maliki holds that its leaving its place suffices. ³