Does Vaginal Discharge Break Wudu?

For most scholars, yes: the ordinary clear or white wetness that comes from a woman's front passage breaks wudu when it comes out, so you renew wudu before you pray. Most of them also hold that it is pure, so you do not wash your clothes or make ghusl because of it. The Hanafis make an exception for the regular, clear wetness that is always there, and the Shafi'is divide it by where it comes from. If it is yellow, green, foul-smelling or comes with itching or pain, that is a medical question, not a fiqh one.

What the texts say

• The hadith of Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh (radi Allahu 'anha) is the main evidence for the majority. She bled continuously, and the Prophet (Salla Allahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) told her it was "just a vein" and not a period (narrated by al-Bukhari, no. 228). In the narration with the added words, he said: «ثُمَّ تَوَضَّئِي لِكُلِّ صَلَاةٍ», "then make wudu for every prayer." The majority reason that a flow from the front passage that does not stop is treated the same way, so it needs wudu for each prayer. Ibn Hajar took those added words to be part of the Prophet's own report, while others attribute them to 'Urwah (as noted by IslamQA, answer 44980).
• 'A'ishah (radi Allahu 'anha) used to scratch dried semen off the garment of the Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) (narrated by Muslim). Ibn Qudamah cites this in al-Mughni for the purity of the wetness, since semen after intercourse is usually mixed with it. This is the evidence for it being pure.
• The general rule among the majority is that whatever leaves either passage breaks wudu, whether it is pure or not. Ibn 'Uthaymin makes the point directly: a thing can break wudu without being impure, as wind does (Majmu' Fatawa, 1/284-286).

What the scholars say

• The majority: the wetness breaks wudu. On purity, IslamQA gives pure as the sounder view, held by al-Shafi'i and Ahmad. Ibn Baz also ruled that it breaks wudu, like anything that leaves the two passages. If it flows without stopping, he treated her like a woman with istihadah or someone who cannot hold urine: she makes wudu for each prayer and prays as she is. Ibn 'Uthaymin added that she should wait until the prayer time has begun before making wudu, wear a pad, and then pray obligatory and voluntary prayers and recite the Qur'an.
• Hanafis: anything leaving either passage breaks wudu and is impure (al-Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar). The exception is rutubat al-farj, the wetness that comes regularly and normally and is clear and not discoloured. It is pure and does not break wudu. Any other discharge, even slightly coloured, does break it. The advice (SeekersGuidance, citing Ibn 'Abidin) is to renew wudu where that is reasonably easy, and to rely on the exception where it is hard, such as at work or school.
• Shafi'is: it depends on where it comes from. Wetness from the outer part, the part washed in istinja', is pure and does not break wudu. Wetness from a little deeper, which the male organ reaches, breaks wudu: Ibn Hajar says it is pure, while al-Ramli says it is impure but excused. Wetness from deeper still, usually thicker, is impure and breaks wudu (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, as cited by SeekersGuidance). If you cannot tell which it is, treat it as pure and renew wudu to be safe.
• A minority: Ibn Hazm held that it does not break wudu, with no text cited for it, and Ibn 'Uthaymin knew of no basis for it. Ibn Taymiyyah is reported to have leaned this way in al-Ikhtiyarat and the other way in Majmu' al-Fatawa. Some Maliki jurists hold that very frequent, on-and-off leakage does not break wudu at all; Jordan's Dar al-Ifta allowed one person in real hardship to follow this (it is a concession, not the general ruling). I did not find a fuller Maliki treatment, so if you follow the Maliki school, ask a teacher of that school.

What this means for you

1. Make wudu before you pray if you have noticed ordinary discharge since your last wudu. Under the Hanafi exception, or the Shafi'i outer-zone rule, the clear regular wetness alone does not break it, so your school decides this.
2. You do not make ghusl for it. IslamQA says it knows of no scholar who requires ghusl for this wetness. Ghusl is for the cases in janabah and ghusl, such as semen, not for ordinary discharge.
3. You do not need to change your clothes if you hold that it is pure. A pad is better, not required.
4. If it never stops, you are in the position of a woman with continuous bleeding: wudu for each prayer once its time begins, as set out for praying during istihadah.
5. Do not keep checking. If you are not sure that anything came out, you are not certain of it, and constant checking feeds doubt (IslamQA, answer 224468, which cites Imam Ahmad telling someone to distract himself instead of checking).
6. Madhi is different. It is impure, it breaks wudu and it needs washing. It is the thin sticky fluid of arousal, not the daily wetness.

What is not covered here

Coloured discharge near your period is a separate question, covered in sufrah and kudrah. Once you have seen the white discharge that ends a period, you make ghusl; see how to know your period has ended. What is normal before a period, and when a change is worth raising with a doctor, is covered in discharge before your period; this page makes no medical judgement.

Because the schools differ, follow the school you normally follow, and keep to it rather than picking the easiest view each time. If you want to keep track of what you saw and when, a period tracker for Muslim women that lets you log discharge and what you decided can make this less of a guessing game.

This page is a study aid compiled from cited classical sources. It is not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a scholar you trust.