There have been quite a few questions regarding this topic, and I thought to add a new post to address them in one place.
The two Hadiths under question are as follows:
- “Aisha (رضي الله عنها) reported: a woman asked the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم): “Is a woman required to perform ghusl (i.e. wash completely as if showering as per the prescribed way) if she had a sexual dream and notices wetness? He responded: Yes. Aisha said to her: May your hand be covered with dust and injured (i.e. she blamed the woman for asking an embarrassing question). However, the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Leave her; resemblance happens because of it. When her water is dominant, the born child resembles his maternal uncles but if sperm of the man was dominant, the born child should resemble his paternal uncles.” [Sahih Muslim 314b]
- The water of the man is white and the water of the woman is yellow. When they get together, if the discharge of the man (i.e. sperm) become above the discharge of the woman, the child is male, by the permission of Allah, and if the discharge of the woman becomes above the discharge of the man (i.e. sperm), the child is a female by the permission of Allah. [Sahih Muslim 315a]
The questions asked are as follows:
According to many of the scholarly opinions I have read, they have used the hadiths in the article to justify the discharge being both yellow and thin. So, how would you reconcile your opinion with that of the scholars? How should we as Muslims respond to the claim that the discharge is not involved in the resemblance of the baby as it does not have the egg cell within it according to science?
Answers to the questions:
The question is very good. Many jurists and hadith scholars indeed described male discharge as white and thick and female discharge as yellow and thin. This was not invented; it is based on explicit sahih reports (like in Muslim). So, when they say the discharge of a woman is yellow and thin, they are simply quoting the Prophet (ﷺ) and not trying to force modern science into it.
When the original article proposes follicular fluid or an internal secretion as the “woman’s water,” it is harmonizing between the text and biological reality. Both views (external discharge vs internal ovarian fluid) are interpretations.
The core hadith is sahih (authentic), but the exact referent of “maa’ (water)” is open to explanation. Classical scholars themselves differed whether it means climax fluid, cervical fluid, or a broader category of reproductive secretions.
Therefore, saying it could mean follicular fluid does not negate the scholars who described it as yellow discharge; it’s simply another plausible explanation. Allah (ﷻ) knows best which was intended.
Yes, sahih hadiths are accepted as truth. But we must distinguish between:
What is established by the hadith (e.g. “there is a male water and a female water, and resemblance is connected to them”).
How we interpret the mechanism (the “how” can be open, and scholars often gave ijtihad-based explanations).
The fact is the Prophet (ﷺ) spoke of male and female water, whiteness/yellowness, and a link to resemblance. The interpretation, what exact biological fluid and what exact process, can vary and is not infallible.
Science today shows:
- Sex determination is by the chromosome carried in the sperm (X or Y).
- Resemblance is polygenic; many genes from both parents influence it.
So how do we, as Muslims, respond?
We do not claim the hadith is teaching genetics. Classical scholars never treated these narrations as biology textbooks.
Instead, we say the Prophet (ﷺ) described, in accessible terms, observable realities: sometimes children resemble one parent, and there is a hidden cause in the meeting of fluids.
The mention of “male/female water” reflects ancient language for gametes/secretions. Whether modern science describes it differently (sperm + egg, chromosomes, DNA) does not invalidate the truth of the hadith; it simply shows a different framework of explanation.
Summary
- We accept the scholars who said “female discharge is thin and yellow,” while also recognizing that modern readers see follicular/ovarian fluid as a plausible fit. Both are attempts to understand the text.
- We affirm what is in the hadith (male/female water, resemblance, Allah’s (ﷻ) permission). We don’t have to prove it matches every detail of genetics to maintain our belief.
- Science describes mechanisms; the hadiths give signs/reasons in simple language. They are not contradictory, but operate at different explanatory levels.
Conclusion
We accept the sahih hadith as true. Scholars explained “woman’s water” as yellow/thin discharge, but some interpret it as deeper reproductive fluid. The resemblance link is affirmed by the Prophet (ﷺ), while the exact biological process is left to Allah’s (ﷻ) knowledge. Science explains chromosomes and genetics; the hadith does not aim to teach that mechanism but points to the unseen causes behind family resemblance.
Tafsir Majidi beautifully summarizes such issues:
When the sun, moon and the stars were mentioned, they were so with the examples that did not contradict the intellectual and mental state of the time, but sufficient flexibility was retained such that after centuries, when the astronomical beliefs change, the explanation of the words of the commentary of the Qur’an do not confuse the mind. Roundness of the earth and its rotation and the movements of the sun and the moon – all these had not been mentioned in that time openly. The engineers of Greece and India, astronomers of Iraq and Egypt; all were of the view that the sky is the name of a big and vast roof in which the stars, moon are placed and fixed. If it had been mentioned, then who would have considered this Book worthy of believing and so many arguments, intellectual and mental, would have taken away the real purpose of guidance. The wisdom of Almighty chose such a miraculous way of speech in which the apparent meaning made sense to the people of that time but sufficient flexibility and space was kept so that when the intellect and knowledge of men reach its peak, then that same Book become a permanent evidence, and apart from pure believers and truthful ones, others also get benefit from it.
Indeed, Allah (ﷻ) knows best.
Qur'anic misconceptions addressed 
Assalamualaikum, thank you for the detailed response.
I wanted to ask about how in Sahih Muslim 315a the discharge is referred to as ‘maniy’. I apologise if you made this point clear, but id appreciate if you could perhaps rephrase it. Are you trying to say that the ‘maniy’ may not be the liquid referred to at the beginning of the hadith, and may instead be a mixture of reproductive secretions (perhaps including the water at the beginning of the hadith)? If so, could you kindly quote some classical scholars who said this (I am interested to hear their point of view) and if this is the case, why do many scholars refer to the liquid released by the female from outside her private as maniy.
Wa’alaykumusSalaam wr wb.
Most classical scholars (Ibn Hajar, Nawawi, Ibn Qayyim, and the majority of fuqaha) treat maa and maniy here as referring to the same thing.
Some later scholars, including certain modern commentators and even a few early ones who noticed variant wording, argued that the structure of the hadith allows for a slightly broader reading: The first phrase “the water of the man / woman” (maa) may refer broadly to the reproductive contribution of each; not necessarily limited to the external discharge. The later mention of “maniy” could then refer to the subset of secretions or reproductive material that participates in conception, which might involve both internal and external fluids (in modern language: semen + egg environment, cervical fluid, etc.).
Maniy is a derived noun from mannaa (to emit fluid / discharge). It is sometimes used broadly for any reproductive emission, male or female.
In other words, the hadith could be understood as: Each has a reproductive ‘water’; when these mingle, whichever reproductive essence (maniy) dominates leads to one outcome or another.
In Sahih Muslim 315a, the terms maa and maniy are both authentic and used interchangeably by many commentators to mean the reproductive fluids of man and woman.
However, linguistically, maa (water) can be a broader term for any reproductive secretion, and maniy may denote the generative essence within that water. Thus, the hadith can legitimately be read as referring to the reproductive contribution of both sexes—without contradiction, and without requiring us to fix the reference to a single external fluid.
Some references on the definition can be found in Lisān al-‘Arab (Ibn Manẓūr, 13th century CE) and Tāj al-‘Arūs (al-Zabīdī). Classical Arabic does not distinguish between semen, ovum, cervical mucus, or follicular fluid using separate technical terms — maa and maniyy served as broad conceptual categories for all reproductive liquids. Therefore, reading the Hadith as referring to both maa (general reproductive waters) and maniyy (specific generative portion) is not modern reinterpretation; it is entirely compatible with the original language.
I hope it’s clear and if not, I’m available for further elaboration.
assalamu alaikum. sorry if I didn’t understand the post properly it’s all a bit confusing. But you mention how the water here could be referring to the follicular fluid, however in the Hadith the woman asked about a sexual dream, and follicular fluid is not what the wetness from a sexual dream is. Could you please clarify? Thank you.
Wa’alaykumusSalaam wr wb.
There are two distinct references to ‘water’ (maa) here. 1) The Prophet (ﷺ) answering the question of ghusl after a sexual dream and 2) the Prophet (ﷺ) explaining resemblance and sex.
The first one refers to visible sexual discharge (the wetness that necessitates ghusl) while the second one refers to reproductive water, i.e. the male and female generative fluids that mingle during conception.
The same word maa is used twice but the referent changes according to the context of the sentence. In the first, it is fiqhi (legal): discharge that exits the body. In the second, it is khalqi (biological): the generative fluid from which Allah creates offspring.
barakallahfeek. The prophet ﷺ responded to Aisha (ra) when she got angry at the woman for talking about fluids from a wet dream (external discharge) , and the prophet ﷺ said “resemblance happens because of IT” so referring to the external discharge. Sorry if I’m misunderstanding?
The Prophet ﷺ is teaching two points at once:
1) Legal point: Women, like men, must perform ghusl if they experience orgasmic discharge in sleep.
→ That’s why he said, “if she sees the water.”
2) Biological / theological point: The female also produces a reproductive fluid that participates in conception — and that’s why a child may resemble her.
“How else would her child resemble her?”
He bridges these two points with the same term “māʾ,” showing a connection: the same kind of reproductive water that exits visibly in some cases is also the medium through which Allah creates human resemblance.
Ibn Ḥajar wrote in Fatḥ al-Bārī, 7/320:
“The Prophet (ﷺ) joined the issue of ghusl with the matter of resemblance because both are outcomes of the same emission (maniy). When it is emitted in sleep, it obliges ghusl; and when it meets its counterpart in intercourse, it becomes a cause in creation.”
In other words, same origin, different context. It’s the same type of fluid (maniy), but in one scenario it’s seen externally (hence ghusl), and in another it mingles internally (hence resemblance).
I see what you’re saying however, sahih musljm 311 says “ Man’s discharge (i. e. sperm) is thick and white and the discharge of woman is thin and yellow; so resemblance will comes from whichever of these [liquids] dominate “ showing that it’s not just a medium but that the prophet ﷺ was suggesting resemblance of the woman comes directly from the dominance of the thin yellow discharge which comes out in a wet dream.
Fair point. Let’s slow this down and see exactly how that fits together with the fuller picture the classical commentators drew.
“The man’s discharge is thick and white, and the woman’s discharge is thin and yellow; so resemblance comes from whichever of them dominates (ʿalā).” The Prophet (ﷺ) is clearly describing observable fluids and saying that resemblance follows whichever one “dominates” in quality or timing.
Most commentators understood “dominates” to describe relative influence, not physical quantity.
Al-Nawawī (Sharh Muslim 3 / 222): “Meaning: if the woman’s discharge precedes or is stronger, the child’s resemblance is towards her, and if the man’s precedes or is stronger, then towards him.” He adds that “dominance” (uluw) can mean precedence in time or strength, not that one fluid chemically overpowers the other.
Ibn Ḥajar (Fatḥ al-Bari 7 / 320) explains that the Prophet (ﷺ) used simple, experiential language — when one partner’s pleasure or emission is more intense or earlier, resemblance often tends that way. It’s a description of outcome, not a physiological law.
So while the Hadith uses external, familiar imagery (white, yellow, thick, thin), classical exegetes never treated it as a literal lab-statement about the mechanism of heredity. They read “dominance” as a sign language for relative influence within Allah’s creative decree.
You’re correct that the Prophet (ﷺ) referred to the same yellow, thin discharge that women may observe in a wet dream. The key, however, is not that the visible liquid itself causes resemblance, but that this kind of fluid (the female reproductive emission) is the indicator of her reproductive contribution. In other words the visible wetness proves that such a fluid exists and is produced by the woman; that type of fluid (internally, during real intercourse) participates in conception. Hence, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “resemblance comes from whichever dominates”, meaning that resemblance is linked to the reproductive contribution that each partner provides, represented outwardly by those emissions.
So yes, he used the same physical phenomenon people could observe, but his teaching points beyond the mere external droplet to the creative process that Allah brings about from those fluids.
Rephrasing and summarizing it in other words below and hope it is easy to follow:
1) The Prophet (ﷺ) did indeed speak of the same visible discharges (white and thick for men, yellow and thin for women) and said that resemblance is connected to whichever “dominates.”
2) Classical scholars explained that he was teaching causation in ordinary human terms: each partner’s reproductive emission plays a role in the child’s resemblance, by Allah’s permission.
3) So the thin yellow discharge seen in a wet dream is the external sign of the woman’s reproductive fluid; its dominance in the Hadith refers to her influence in the creative process, not that the emitted liquid itself, outside conception, produces heredity.
Hope this helps.