Abu Dawud

Benefits and Issues:
➊ During the specific days, young married couples should exercise utmost caution; it is quite possible that they may reach such a point that returning becomes difficult. However, intimacy (without intercourse) is permissible, because the aforementioned hadith is weak.

Lexical Explanation:
«مَا فَوْقَ الْإِزَار» can have two meanings: First, by "izar" is meant intercourse and mutual conjugal relations, i.e., for the husband, everything except intercourse is permissible. The second meaning is: in place of trousers or lower garment, i.e., leaving the area from the navel to the knees, intimacy with the rest of the body is lawful. According to the second meaning, this is in opposition to the hadith of Sayyiduna Anas radi Allahu anhu «اِصْنَعُوا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا النِّكَاح», because from the hadith of Sayyiduna Anas, only intercourse is prohibited, whereas in this, enjoyment from the entire area between the navel and the knees is prohibited. However, firstly, this narration is weak; secondly, from this, only the first meaning—intercourse and sexual relations—will be taken, so that both hadiths are in agreement. In a narration of Sunan al-Nasa’i, it is mentioned that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would lie with one of his wives during her menstruation while she had tied an izar up to half her thigh. [سنن النسائي، الطهارة، باب مباشرة الحائض، حديث : 288] By reflecting on this hadith and both of the aforementioned hadiths, it becomes clear that during menstruation, it is not a condition for intimacy that an izar be tied from the navel to the knees; enjoyment from the area above the knees is also permissible. The purpose of the izar is to prevent intercourse and protect from blood, whether it covers up to the knees, half the thigh, or even less than that.