What is the ruling on enjoying one's menstruating wife above the abdomen?

Direct contact with a menstruating woman above the navel and below the knee is permissible by consensus (ijma'). Intercourse in the vagina is forbidden by consensus. Jurists (fuqaha') differed regarding enjoyment of what is between the navel and the knee. Ahmad and others held it to be permissible, while Abu Hanifa, Malik, and Al-Shafi'i held it not to be permissible, citing Aisha's narration that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would command her to wear an izar (waist wrapper) and then have direct contact with her. Prudence dictates adopting the view of the majority to block the means (sadd al-dhara'i') out of fear of falling into the forbidden.