704. Istihaadhah

By Asma bint Shameem 

1. Basically if the spotting/colored discharge is continuous and connected to the actual bleeding, then it counts as your menses. 

But if you get random spotting that’s not connected to your menses and it occurs *after* a day or more since you’ve been ‘clean’, then that counts as Istihaadhah. 

The sahaabiyaat used to ignore any spotting/ discharge that happened AFTER their period was over and they had seen purity. 

Umm ‘Atiyyah radhi Allaahu anhaa said: 

“We did not bother about any yellow or brownish discharge after a woman’s period was over.” (Abu Dawood - saheeh by al-Albaani )

So if there’s a gap of at least a day or more in between the time your menses ended and the spotting, then this is your istihaadhah. 

In such a situation, you're 'paak' (pure) as they say and you can fast and pray and everything else you do in your purity. 

Only thing is however, that for every FARDH prayer you have to :

-wash your private parts

- put on a clean pad/ liner

- make fresh wudhu. 

That's ONLY for the FARDH prayer.

Also there’s NO NEED to take a bath. Your wudhu is enough. 

Someone asked Shaikh Ibn Baaz about brown discharge which occurs over five days before the actual menstrual period begins which then lasts for eight days.

Is therefore the prayer and fasting obligatory on this person during the initial five days?

Shaikh bin Baaz said: 

“If the five days in which the brownness occurs are unconnected to the bleeding, then it is not from the menstruation, upon you is to pray within it and fast and you should perform wudhu for every prayer because it is of the ruling of urine, and does not hold the ruling of menses. Therefore it does not prevent one from prayer nor fasting, however it necessitates performing wudhu every time until it ceases – such as irregular (non-menstrual) bleeding.

As for if these five (days) are connected to the menstruation, then it is altogether considered to be from the menstruation, and counted to be from the routine, and upon you is to not pray within them nor to fast.

Likewise if this brown or yellow discharge occurs after the purification from the menses, then it is not considered menses, rather its ruling is the ruling of irregular (non-menstrual) bleeding. 

Upon you is to wash the area each time, and perform wudhu and pray and fast, and it is not considered from the menses.”(Al-Mawsu’ah al-Baaziyyah fee Masaa-il an-Nisaa-iyyah 2/867)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked:

“If a woman’s normal monthly period is seven or eight days, then it continues once or twice for longer than that, what is the ruling?”

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: 

“If the normal period of this woman is six or seven days, then it becomes longer, lasting for eight, nine, ten or eleven days, then she remains (in menstruation) and she should not pray until she becomes clean. 

This is because the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam did not define any particular number of days for the menstrual cycle. 

And Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala says:

‎• وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْمَحِيضِۖ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى

“They ask you concerning menstruation. Say that it is an Aḏa (a harmful thing for a husband to have sexual intercourse with his wife while she is having her menses)”
[Al-Baqarah 2:222]

So when this blood continues, the woman continues in that state, until she becomes clean and performs Ghusl and prays. 

And if, in the following month, her period is shorter than that, then she should make Ghusl when she becomes clean, even if it was not of the same number of days as the previous period. 

The important point is, that when a woman has her period, she does not pray, whether the period is the same length as the last one, or it is more or less when she becomes clean, she must pray.”

(Sheikh Ibn Al-‘Uthaymeen, Fatāwā Islāmiyah 2/120-1)

2. That applies to all females who menstruate irrespective of age. 

And Allaah knows best