A woman was experiencing continuous bleeding during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Umm Salama sought a ruling on her behalf from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, "Let her observe the number of nights and days during the month in which she used to menstruate before this affliction came upon her, and let her abstain from prayer for that portion of the month. Once that period has passed, let her perform the ritual bath, then secure herself with a cloth, and then pray."
أن امرأة كانت تهراق الدماء في عهد رسول الله ﷺ، فاستفتت لها أم سلمة رسول الله ﷺ فقال: لتنظر إلى عدد الليالي والأيام التي كانت تحيضهن من الشهر قبل أن يصيبها الذي أصابها؛ فلتترك الصلاة قدر ذلك من الشهر، فإذا خلفت ذلك فلتغتسل، ثم لتستغفر بثوب، ثم لتصلي.
Malik narrated it in Tahara (105), from Nafi, from Sulayman bin Yasar, from Umm Salama. And by way of Malik, Abu Dawud (274) and Nasai (355) narrated it. Ubaydullah bin Umar followed him in this, narrating it from Nafi with the same wording. Nasai (354) and Ibn Majah (326) narrated it.Bayhaqi criticized it as having a break in the chain, after narrating the hadith by way of Shafii, from Malik, saying, "This wording of Shafii's hadith is a well known hadith, which Malik bin Anas included in Muwatta, and Abu Dawud narrated it in his Sunan, except that Sulayman bin Yasar did not hear it from Umm Salama." End of quote, from Sunan al-Kubra (1/333).I say, Sulayman bin Yasar was born in the year 34 AH, and Umm Salama died in the year 64 AH, and he had been her slave under a contract of manumission, so it is not unlikely that he heard from her. He also narrated from Maymuna, Ayesha, Fatimah bint Qays, Zayd bin Thabit, and other companions, and he was one of the seven jurists. Malik relied on his narration in the Muwatta, from Nafi, and likewise Ayub Sakhtiyani narrated it from Sulayman bin Yasar exactly as Malik narrated it from Nafi.The fact that Layth bin Saad, Sakhr bin Juwayria, and Ubaydullah bin Umar inserted a man between Sulayman bin Yasar and Umm Salama, and that their hadiths were narrated by Abu Dawud and Bayhaqi, does not harm what Nafi and Ayub narrated, because of the inconsistency found in the chains of these narrators. It is also possible that he first heard it from her through an intermediary, then heard it from her directly, and so he narrated it in two ways, which is an acceptable practice in the transmission of hadith. The reliance of Shafii and Abu Dawud strengthens this side.In the hadith of Ayub Sakhtiyani, the woman about whose bleeding Umm Salama sought a ruling for is Fatimah bint Abu Hubaysh, who is mentioned in the hadith of Hisham bin Urwa, from his father, from Ayesha, as narrated by Malik and others.The hadith of Ayub was narrated by Abu Dawud (278) by way of Wahib, and by Humaydi in his Musnad (1/144, no. 302), who said, Sufyan narrated to us, both of them from Ayub Sakhtiyani, from Sulayman bin Yasar, that he heard him narrating from Umm Salama, who said, "Fatimah bint Abu Hubaysh used to experience prolonged bleeding, so she asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, 'It is not menstruation, but rather it is from a blood vessel.' He instructed her to abstain from prayer for the duration of her usual menstrual periods, or the duration of her menses, and then to wash herself. If the blood overwhelmed her, she should bind a cloth around herself and pray." This is the wording of Humaydi.Ibn Abdul-Barr narrated it by way of Muhammad bin Ismail bin Yusuf, from Humaydi, in Istidhkar (3/235).Al-istithfar means to tie a cloth around oneself, binding it in place to hold back the blood and prevent it from flowing, and it is derived from the word thafr.