Those who said: The aqra' are the menstrual periods

It is narrated from Sulayman bin Yasar (may Allah have mercy on him) that Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh (may Allah be pleased with her) suffered from istihadah (irregular bleeding). She asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or he (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked on her behalf, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded her "to leave the prayer during the days of her quru' (menstruation), and at other times to take a bath, bind herself with a cloth, and pray." Sulayman (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: May her husband have intercourse with her? He said: We only say what we have heard. Abd al-Warith and Hammad bin Zayd (may Allah have mercy on them both) narrated it likewise from Ayyub (may Allah have mercy on him), except that they both mentioned that Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) sought the ruling on her behalf. Ibrahim bin Isma'il bin Ulayyah (may Allah have mercy on him) took this narration as evidence and claimed that Sufyan bin Uyaynah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it from Ayyub (may Allah have mercy on him) in this way. Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sufyan never narrated this.
Rather, Sufyan (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated from Ayyub (may Allah have mercy on him), from Sulayman bin Yasar (may Allah have mercy on him), from Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "She should leave the prayer for the number of nights and days in which she used to menstruate," or he said: "during the days of her quru'" (the doubt is from Ayyub; it is not known whether he said this or that). So he (Ibrahim) took one of the two in the direction he wanted, and this is not truthful.

It is narrated from Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) that Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh suffered from istihadah (irregular bleeding), and Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on her behalf. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This is not menstruation; it is only a vein." Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded her to leave the prayer during the days of her quru' or of her menstruation, then to take a bath and pray, and if the blood overwhelmed her, to bind herself with a cloth.
The Shaykh (al-Bayhaqi) said: This wording which they used as evidence has been narrated in hadiths that we mentioned in the Book of Menstruation, and those hadiths themselves differ: some narrators said in them "the days of her aqra'", and some said "the days of her menstruation" or something with that meaning. All of that comes from the narrators, each of them expressing it as it occurred to him; and the authentic hadiths agree on expressing it as "the days of menstruation", without the word aqra'. And Allah knows best.

It is narrated from Alqamah (may Allah have mercy on him) that a woman came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: My husband divorced me, then left me until I had closed my door, set out my water (for bathing) and taken off my clothes; then he said: I have taken you back, I have taken you back.
Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), who was sitting at his side: What do you say about this woman? Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: My view is that her husband is more entitled to her until she takes the bath from her third menstruation and prayer becomes lawful for her. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: That is my view about it as well.

It is narrated from Ibn al-Musayyib (may Allah have mercy on him) that Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When a man divorces his wife, he is more entitled to her until she takes the bath from her third menstruation, in the case of one or two divorces.

It is narrated from Abu Ubaydah that Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a messenger to my father (Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him) to ask him about a man who divorced his wife and then took her back when she had entered her third menstruation. He said: My view is that he is more entitled to her as long as she has not taken the bath from her third menstruation and prayer has not become lawful for her. Abu Ubaydah said: I do not know Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) to have done anything other than adopt that view.

It is narrated from Umar, Abdullah and Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with them) concerning a man who divorced his wife, then she menstruated, and when she reached the third menstruation he took her back before she had bathed. They said: He is more entitled to her as long as she has not taken the bath from the third menstruation.

Hajjaj (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated to us; he said: Ibn Jurayj (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Three quru'." And Ibn Jurayj (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Ata' al-Khurasani (may Allah have mercy on him), from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), that Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: Three menstruations (that is, three quru' means three menstruations).

It is narrated from Amr bin Dinar (may Allah have mercy on him) that, according to the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), al-quru' means menstruation. As for the view of Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), that al-quru' means the periods of purity, he took it from Zayd bin Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him).

It is narrated from Nafi' that Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to hold the same view as Zayd and Aishah (may Allah be pleased with them both).

Ali bin Abd al-Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) informed us that Abu Ubayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said that al-Asma'i (may Allah have mercy on him) and others said: "Aqra'at al-mar'ah" is said when the time of her menstruation draws near, and it is also said when the time of her purity draws near. Abu Ubayd (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The root of aqra'a is the arrival of the time of something. As a poet praises a man for a military expedition:
'Muwarrathatan malan wa fi al-dhikri rif'atan, lima da'a fiha min quru'i nisa'ika'
"In the pursuit and gain of wealth and the elevation of name, the quru' of their women were lost because of it." So here quru' means the periods of purity, because intercourse with women takes place only during purity.