Question:
A lady gave birth and her spotting continued over forty days. When will she resume her prayers and when will she stop and consider it to be menses?
Clarification: Its her first child, spotted for 68 days, her pattern before pregnancy was 17 days clean and 8 days haidh.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-Salāmu ʿAlaykum Wa-Raḥmatullāhi Wa-Barakātuh
The maximum number of days for nifās (post-natal bleeding) is 40 days. The spotting found thereafter will be treated as istiḥāḍah (dysfunctional uterine bleeding) and her menstrual cycle habit before the pregnancy is applied.[1]
In the scenario enquired, the bleeding seen after the 40-day nifās period for the next 17 days will be regarded as istiḥāḍah. After that, the following 8 days will be counted as ḥayḍ (menstruation). The 3 days after this will again be considered istiḥāḍah. In total, this amounts to 68 days of spotting.
All the rulings of istiḥāḍah will be applied in terms of performing prayers, fasting, and intimacy. After coming out of nifās, she should perform ghusl (ritual bath), after which she may resume her prayers. If she had missed the prayers, she must make the prayers that coincided with istiḥāḍah days. In the scenario enquired, it will be 17 days and 3 days.[2]
Fasting must be kept if it is in the month of Ramadan. Marital relations will be permissible during istiḥāḍah.
The rulings mentioned above refers to the normal state of istiḥāḍah. Below is a summary of the rulings related to istiḥāḍah when it is continuous.
Chronic Discharge of Istiḥāḍah
A person becomes a maʿdhūr (excused) when their condition continues for an entire prayer time, such that they do not get enough time to make wuḍūʾ (ablution) and perform the prayer in the state of purity. Therefore, if a mustaḥāḍah (woman experiencing dysfunctional uterine bleeding) finds herself spotting or bleeding continuously in this state then she will be considered a maʿdhūrah. If she has not yet reached this state, then each time she spots or bleeds, her wuḍūʾ will break as normal.
Once a mustaḥāḍah is classified as a maʿdhūrah, she will stay in this category as long as every prayer time contains at least one instance of her spotting/bleeding. It does not need to flow constantly. In this case, she will perform a new wuḍūʾ when farḍ (compulsory) prayer comes in. This wuḍūʾ will be nullified by the time a new prayer time comes in. With this wuḍūʾ, she may touch the Quran and perform nafl (involuntary) prayers. However, other nullifiers of wuḍūʾ, such as passing gas or urine will break her wuḍūʾ.[3]
If a full prayer time passes without her spotting/bleeding even once, then she will no longer be considered a maʿdhūrah. For detailed guidance regarding different scenarios of a mustaḥāḍah maʿdhūrah, refer to the following fatwa.
And Allah Taʿāla Knows Best.
Rukunuddin Bin Jahangir
Student –Darul Iftaa
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Checked and Approved by
Mufti Muhammad Zakariyya Desai
