Wadi (the thick white fluid after urine: its purity, ablution and bath)

وَدْي

Wadi in the lexical sense is the thick white fluid that comes after urine or on lifting a heavy weight; it also means the young palm shoots. ¹ It differs from semen, which comes with desire, and from madhi, which is thin and comes with desire; wadi comes after urine. ² Most jurists hold wadi impure, and the Hanbalis hold that what is not eaten is impure, while the flesh of the animal eaten is pure. ² ³ It must be removed when needed, by water or stones, and its exit requires only ablution, not bathing, on the report of Ibn Abbas; its exit breaks the ablution by agreement. ³ ⁴ One who wakes with a wet mark and is unsure whether it is semen or wadi or something else is not bound to bathe, according to most jurists; the Shafi'is let him choose the rule that fits the probable one. ⁴ ⁵

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region: Arabia
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Health, body and death Worship and the pillars Halal and haram

Summary

Wadi is the thick white fluid that comes after urine or on lifting a heavy weight; the word also means young palm shoots. ¹

Wadi, semen and madhi

Semen comes with desire, madhi is thin and comes with desire, and wadi comes after urine. ²

Purity and removal

Most jurists hold wadi impure; the Hanbalis hold that what is not eaten is impure. ² ³ It must be removed when needed, by water or stones; its exit requires ablution but not bathing, and breaks the ablution by agreement. ³ ⁴

A doubtful wet mark

One who wakes with a wet mark and is unsure whether it is semen or wadi is not bound to bathe, according to most jurists; the Shafi'is let him act on the probable case. ⁴ ⁵

People and things also explored

Hadi (the whitish fluid before childbirth: its ruling on ablution and purity)· Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· Hady (animal offered to the Sacred Precinct)· Hair, wool and fur (their purity, the rules for the dead, washing, adornment and sale)· Halak (destruction of property and its legal effect)· Hudb (eyelashes: injury and washing in ablution)· Palm of the hand (kaff)· Shurb (drinking: manners, the one who drinks in prayer and fasting, and vessels of gold and silver)

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16629
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16630
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16631
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16632
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16633

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Wadi (the thick white fluid after urine: its purity, ablution and bath)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/wadi-fluid-fiqh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Hadi (the whitish fluid before childbirth: its ruling on ablution and purity)

Hadi, in the technical sense, is a term of the Malikis: a whitish fluid that comes from a pregnant woman near childbirth; some define it as a fluid coming at the birth or at a miscarriage. It differs from madhi, wadi, semen, menses and postpartum bleeding in its outflow from the womb, and menses requires bathing while hadi does not. The Malikis have two views on whether hadi breaks ablution: the accepted one says it does, the other says it is nothing, since it is not habitual. The Malikis hold hadi impure, and the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis agree on the impurity of what comes from a pregnant woman before the birth.