Question: If a woman has an abortion or a miscarriage, is the blood that emerges from her vagina considered to be nifas (postnatal bleeding)?
ANSWER
If any of the body parts of the fetus, e.g., its nail or finger, has been formed, she is treated as if she gave birth to a whole baby, so the blood discharged is considered nifas. If none of its body parts have appeared yet, the blood discharged is not considered nifas. But if it flows for 3 or more days and if 15 or more days have passed since the end of her last menstruation, then this bleeding is considered menstrual bleeding. If it lasts for less than 3 days or if a minimum of 15 days have not passed since the end of her last menstruation, then this bleeding is not considered menstrual. It is like having a nosebleed. Therefore, she can perform salat and fast when she is in this state.

The minimum duration of purity between two periods is 15 days. If blood starts flowing after a minimum of 15 days of cleanliness and ceases before 3 days are over, she should wait until it gets quite close to end of the time for salat within which it has stopped. Then she makes only wudu' without taking a ghusl and performs that salat. She must also make up the salats if she missed any due to this condition. If the bleeding resumes after she has performed it, she discontinues salat. If it stops once again, she makes wudu' the time when it gets quite close to the end of the time for salat within which it has stopped and performs that salat. She must also make up the salats if she missed any due to this condition. She should act likewise until 3 days are over. If blood flows for 3 days but stops before it has flowed for as many days as the number of days for her usual menses, she should wait until she has approached the end of the time for salat within which it has ceased. If she has not seen any bleeding, she takes a ghusl and performs that salat. She does not have to make up those salats that she did not perform until then.

Question: If a woman dies when she is in a state of menstruation, is it possible for her to die a martyr? That is, is the state of menstruation an obstacle to martyrdom?
ANSWER
Dying in a state of menstruation or sexual impurity (janabah) is not an obstacle to martyrdom. As a matter of fact, Hadrat Hanzala, one of the Blessed Companions, died a martyr in battle, though he was in a state of sexual impurity then [as he joined the army without taking a ghusl because there was not enough time for him to do so]. What prevents one from becoming a martyr is lack of faith (iman).

A woman who has died in a state of menses or a person who has died while sleeping without wudu' or a person who has died in a state of sexual impurity may become a martyr. As a matter of fact, a woman who covers herself compatibly with the order of Islam and performs five daily salats will die a martyr. There is also one more condition that she have the creed of Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah.

Question: Is a menstruating woman allowed to recite Surat al-Fatiha for a dead person?
ANSWER
Yes, she is allowed to recite it. She can recite Surat al-Fatiha with the intention of supplication and present its thawab to the dead.

Question: If blood emerges from the vagina of a girl who has not reached puberty yet or from the vagina of a pregnant lady or from the vagina of an old woman, is it considered menstrual blood?
ANSWER
Bleeding that goes on for less than 3 days or, for a newly pubescent girl, bleeding after the 10th day when it goes on more than 10 days or, for one who is not new, bleeding that happens after her usual menstrual period when it exceeds the number of days of her usual menstrual period and even 10 days or bleeding of a pregnant or an ayisa woman [a woman over the age of 55] or of a girl below 9 years of age is not menstrual. It is called istihada (non-menstrual bleeding). Such a woman can perform salat and carry out all kinds of acts of worship.

Example: Supposing a woman habitually has menses for 7 days. If she, the next time, bleeds for 11 or 12 or 13 or more days, the duration of her menstrual period is considered to be 7 days. If it flows for 8 or 9 or 10 days, her period is considered to have changed [to 8 or 9 or 10 days].

Question: What things are prohibited for a menstruating lady?
ANSWER
1. She cannot perform salat.
2. She cannot fast.
3. She cannot read the Qur'an al-karim.
4. She cannot touch a Mus-haf.
5. She cannot enter a mosque.
6. She cannot perform tawaf (circumambulation) around the Ka'ba.
7. She cannot have sexual intercourse with her husband. A menstruating lady is allowed to recite all kinds of prayers. She can perform tasbih [by saying La ilaha ill-Allah or Subhan-Allah, for example]. She is allowed to cut her hair and nails and to have her hair dyed.

Question: If a menstruating woman has a wet dream, what should she do?
ANSWER
It is better to take a ghusl, but she does not incur a sin if she does not. In fact, she will take a ghusl when her menstrual bleeding stops. During menses, she is allowed to cut her nails and hair. But because she is considered a junub (sexually impure) after she experienced a wet dream, she cannot do the actions mentioned. It will be makruh if she does.

Question: I would like to recite Surat al-Ikhlas a thousand times on the Day of Arafa. But I may start menstruating then. Is it permissible for me to take pills to delay my period?
ANSWER
It is permissible.

Question: Is a girl considered a mukallaf (a person who is obliged to carry out religious duties and who is Islamically held accountable for his/her actions) the time when she starts her periods?
ANSWER
Yes, she is considered a mukallaf the time when she starts her periods.

Question: At mosque, gifts were given to children who read the Qur'an. There was the recitation of the Qur'an as well. We, as a group of females, went there as there would not be salat offering. Some of the females were without wudu' and were menstruating. Did they commit a sin?
ANSWER
Entering a mosque in a state of sexual impurity (janabah) or menstruation is haram. Entering there without wudu' is makruh.

Question: When a person is having his/her tooth crowned or filled, is it a condition that he/she be with wudu'? Is there anything wrong with being in a state of menstruation or sexual impurity during it?
ANSWER
No, being with wudu' is not a condition. Even if a person is in a state of sexual impurity or menses [when his/her tooth is filled or crowned], he/she has to imitate the Maliki Madhhab as of the first ghusl he/she will take. If he/she does not imitate it thinking that he/she had his tooth filled in a state of wudu', he will remain a junub.

Question: If a menstruating woman wants to perform istikhara (seeking guidance from Allahu ta'ala) and she does not have time to wait until she attains purification, what should she do?
ANSWER
She can perform istikhara and recite the supplication. But she cannot perform Salat al-Istikhara.

Question: Could you provide us with detailed information about the blood that comes out following a miscarriage that occurs within the first two or three months of pregnancy, that is, when none of the organs of the fetus have been formed? How should a woman in such a state act regarding salat and fast?
ANSWER
That bleeding is not considered nifas (postnatal bleeding). It is like blood running from the nose. If the woman concerned is a Hanafi, she must make a fresh wudu' when each prayer (salat) time begins because she is classified as an excused person. She can fast. If she imitates the Maliki Madhhab, the blood of istihada (non-menstrual blood) will not break her wudu'. That is, she can perform Salat al-Isha with the wudu' she made in order to perform Salat al-Fajr, if it does not break for some other reason.

Question: Is it necessary for a lady with irregular menstrual cycles (such as, having a period in two or three months) to do anything special (regarding salat and fast, for example)?
ANSWER
She does not have to do anything special. It is normal. It is better for a lady to get her periods less frequently.

Question: Is the brownish discharge released during the final days of menses considered to be menstrual blood? It does not flow but only soils the cotton.
ANSWER
Yes, it is considered menstrual blood.

Question: Is it a sin to have sexual intercourse with a wife who is in a state of menstruation? Does obtaining the wife's consent to this act count for anything?
ANSWER
Yes, it is haram. The Qur'an al-karim says (what means):
(Do not approach women during their menstrual periods until they become pure.) [Al-Baqara 222]

The wife's consent to this act does not count for anything. Sexual intercourse with her is haram until she attains purification. When a man commits fornication with a woman, both parties agree to do so. Can their agreement make it lawful (halal)? Menstruation is a state of illness, and sexual intercourse during it is medically harmful. Even if it were not harmful, one has to abstain from it simply because Allahu ta'ala has prohibited it.

Question: If a menstruating woman makes wudu' and then dies, is she considered to have died in a state of wudu'?
ANSWER
No, she is not.

Question: Is the blood flowing from the vagina of a woman who has undergone a cesarean section delivery considered nifas (postnatal bleeding)?
ANSWER
Yes, it is considered nifas. The ruling for the blood that comes out of the abdominal area is different.

Question: If a woman who sees bleeding all the time considers 10 days of every month to be her menstrual period and the remaining days of it to be her purity period, is it permissible for her to go by this pattern?
ANSWER
Yes, it is permissible.

Question: Supposing a woman's nifas lasted for 40 days and stopped. If blood starts flowing after 10 days of or 16 days of purity period, is it considered to be menstrual blood?
ANSWER
If it restarts flowing after 10 days of purity, it is considered istihada (bleeding other than menstrual and postnatal bleeding). If it restarts flowing after 16 days of purity, it is considered menstrual blood.

Rules concerning an excused person
Question: How long should a problem (herein problem refers to any discharge that causes chronic annulment of wudu') remain in order for a person to qualify as a ma'zur (excused) according to the Hanafi Madhhab as well as other madhhabs?
ANSWER
In order for one to qualify as an excused person according to the madhhabs of Hanafi, Hanbali, and Shafi'i, the chronic nullifier of the ablution should be discharged continuously for the complete duration of the time of an obligatory salat. If it stops for a time period that enables a person to make wudu' and perform that obligatory salat, the person concerned does not qualify as an excused person. When it is established that one is an excused person, this excused state continues during every subsequent salat time if it is discharged at least once and only as a single drop. If nothing is discharged during the complete duration of a salat time, one is no longer considered an excused person.

According to the Maliki Madhhab, however, one meets the conditions of becoming an excused person if the discharge comes out even once a day, nay, once every three or five days. Therefore, a person who does not qualify as an excused person according to the Hanafi Madhhab can get rid of the problem by imitating the Maliki Madhhab.

Question: I am a female doctor. Women experience physiological discharge (vaginal mucus) varying in amount and consistency according to different phases of their menstrual cycles. This vaginal discharge is the greatest trouble women have regarding wudu' and salat. I have many friends wearing hijab, but none of them are familiar with imitating the Maliki Madhhab regarding this discharge. Why don't women imitate the Maliki Madhhab concerning this matter?
ANSWER
They do not imitate it because they do not know of this concession. They are suffering this trouble because they are too shy to ask questions related to this matter. If they imitate the Maliki Madhhab concerning this matter, they will find relief from it. Then chronic vaginal discharge will nullify neither their wudu' nor their salats.

Additionally, if their underwear has been soiled with vaginal discharge, they can perform salat without having to change their underwear if it is difficult to find a clean one, for according to the Maliki Madhhab, cleaning the najasat off one's clothes is not fard (obligatory). Therefore, it is permissible to perform salat with najasat on oneself in case of necessity.

Question: Does the term physiological vaginal discharge refer to yellowish discharge? What color is it? Does it vary depending on whether a woman is married or single? Is it discharged even after menopause? What is this physiological discharge? How should we distinguish it from the other bodily secretions?
ANSWER
Our female gynecologist states: The bodily secretion called physiological vaginal discharge (vaginal mucus) is usually clear or white in color. But it appears yellowish when it accumulates and remains for a while on underwear or cotton. Therefore, yellow spots seen on underwear are normal. It does not differ between married and unmarried women. It is not normally discharged after menopause. However, if a postmenopausal woman is on hormone replacement therapy or has a problem, she may experience vaginal discharge.

Question: Could you write succinctly the things that I should observe when I imitate the Maliki Madhhab?
ANSWER
A Hanafi person who imitates the Maliki Madhhab because of fillings or urinary incontinence or a bodily discharge (that causes chronic annulment of wudu') has to obey the conditions and mufsids (things that make an act of worship invalid) in the Maliki Madhhab along with those in the Hanafi Madhhab only in ghusl, wudu', and salat. The rulings that are different from those of Hanafi Madhhab are as follows:
1. Niyyah (intention), muwalat, and dalk are fard (obligatory) in ghusl. Muwalat means washing the limbs one immediately after the other. Dalk means rubbing gently the limbs washed with the palm of the hand or with a towel. Only touching them is considered dalk, too. When taking a ghusl, one has to make khilal of one's hair (combing hair with fingers).

2. Niyyah, muvalat, dalk, and applying masah (wiping wet hands on the head) on the whole head are fard in wudu'.

3. If a man touches his penis with the inside surface of his hand, this breaks his wudu'.

4. When applying masah on masts, one must wipe both uppers and outsoles completely.

5. If a person performs salat in accordance with the rules of the Hanafi Madhhab, he/she has carried out the obligatory acts of the Maliki Madhhab, too.

Question: If a woman starts menstruating in Ramadan, can she eat and drink? Does she incur a sin if she eats and drinks when her menstrual bleeding stops?
ANSWER
A woman whose menstrual bleeding stops in the holy month of Ramadan remains like a fasting person and does not eat or drink anything. However, if a woman starts menstruating while fasting, she must not remain like a fasting person; she can eat and drink. But she should not eat in front of fasting people.

Question: If a woman breaks her fast at noon for which she made intention at night and then starts menstruating in the afternoon, is she required to make up this fast?
ANSWER
If her period had not come, kaffarah (expiation) would have become obligatory upon her. Because she started menstruating, she is only required to make up that fast. Similarly, if one breaks one's fast and then falls ill to the extent that it is impossible for one to fast, one is only required to make up that fast.

Question: I started menstruating while I was offering a make-up fast. Will I have to offer an additional fast because of the fast that I left unfinished?
ANSWER
You do not have to offer an additional fast. You could not complete that make-up fast, so you have to offer it once again.

Question: Should a menstruating woman who visits a grave recite Surat al-Fatiha without saying the Basmala?
ANSWER
It is permissible for a menstruating lady to recite Surat al-Fatiha with the intention of supplication. There is nothing wrong with her saying the Basmala when beginning to recite it. She cannot recite Qur'anic verses and the Fatiha without the intention of supplication, even if she does not say the Basmala before them. She can recite the Qur'anic verses that contain prayers with or without saying the Basmala. A menstruating woman can recite Surat al-Fatiha with the intention of supplication and present the thawab of it to the dead.

Question: What is the ruling regarding learning the rules related to menstrual and postnatal bleeding? Could you explain them briefly?
ANSWER
It is fard for every Muslim man and woman to learn basic Islamic knowledge. The knowledge concerning menstruation and postnatal bleeding has an important place among these basics. It is essential to know women-related issues to carry out Islamic duties, such as wudu', salat, reading the Qur'an al-karim, hajj, puberty, and marriage. A person who does not know them falls into harams, and his/her acts of worship may become invalid. According to the Hanafi Madhhab, the basics that everybody has to know are as follows:

The minimum duration of menstruation is 3 days, and its maximum is 10 days. The blood that comes out after day 10 is considered the blood of istihada (non-menstrual bleeding). This type of blood is a sign of an abnormality. Discharge of any color is considered menstruation until the discharge is white. The number of days beginning from the moment bleeding is seen until the bleeding comes to an end is called menstruation period. The maximum period of menstruation is 10 days, and the minimum period is 3 days. The maximum duration of menstruation is 15 days according to the other three madhhabs. Menstrual blood may flow intermittently. Seeing a little blood every day means that menstrual bleeding is continuing. The minimum duration of purity between two periods is 15 days. If blood starts flowing after a minimum of 15 days of purity has passed and then stops before 3 days are over, she waits until it gets quite close to the end of the time for salat within which it has stopped. Then she makes only wudu' without having to perform a ghusl and performs that salat, and she makes up the salats if she has missed any due to this condition. If blood returns to her after offering that salat, she discontinues salat once again. Then if it stops again, she waits until it gets quite close to the end of the time for salat within which it has stopped and makes only wudu' and performs that salat. Additionally, she must make up the salats if she has missed any. She acts likewise until she completes 3 days.

Changes in the duration of one's menses

If blood flows for 3 days and then stops before she completes the length of her usual menstrual period, she waits until it gets quite close to the end of the time for salat within which it has stopped. If she does not see any bleeding, she takes a ghusl and performs that salat. She does not have to make up those salats that she did not perform. Then she waits for the length of her habit to pass. If a woman who has a regular number of days for her menses experiences, for one time only, a period that lasts for a different number of days, the length of her habit is considered to have changed. So is the case with her purity period. For example, supposing a woman habitually has menses for 5 days and remains pure for 20 days. If she, the next time, sees bleeding that lasts for 7 days, her habit is considered to have changed to 7 days.

If a woman who has a pattern of menses that lasts for 7 days menstruates for 8 days the next time and then the bleeding ceases, her menstrual period is considered to have extended to 8 days. But if the bleeding returns to her on day 11, the days after day 7 is considered istihada. Therefore, she has to make up those salats that she missed after day 7. If she sees bleeding for 7 days regularly but this time she sees bleeding for 5 days, she takes a ghusl and resumes salat.

It is very important for a lady to know when her menstruation begins and stops. For example, supposing a woman habitually has menses for 5 days. If the bleeding goes beyond 10 days by 3 minutes, what exceeds 5 days is considered istihada blood. If the bleeding stops before 10 days are over, that is, if it stops a few minutes before 10 days are over, all days of bleeding are considered menstrual period. For this reason, every woman should keep track of her menstrual and purity periods.

In Ramadan, a woman whose menses or postnatal bleeding stops after dawn does not eat or drink during that day. However, she must make up that fast-day. If her menstruation or postnatal bleeding starts in the daytime, she can eat or drink during that day. A woman who experiences istihada blood is considered an excused person like the one who suffers from urinary incontinence or abnormal discharge of blood from any part of his/her body. She can perform salat and fast, even though there is bleeding. Because she is regarded as an excused person, she makes a fresh wudu' for each salat when the time for it begins. But if she imitates the Maliki Madhhab, the blood of istihada will not break her wudu'.

The maximum duration of nifas (postnatal bleeding) is 40 days. The blood that flows after 40 days is considered istihada. A woman's norm in postnatal bleeding has an important place. For example, if she bled for 25 days after her first delivery [thus she has a bleeding norm], her norm will be 25 days for her second delivery.

Question: When a woman's menstrual bleeding stops, is it permissible for her to engage in sexual intercourse before having a ghusl?
ANSWER
It is permissible according to the Hanafi Madhhab, but it is not permissible according to the other three madhhabs.

Question: If blood emerges from the vagina of a girl under the age of 9, is it considered menstrual blood?
ANSWER
No, it is not. It is considered istihada. (Radd-ul-mukhtar)

Question: If a woman attains purification at the end of the time for a salat and she has failed to perform it before the time for it ends, does she have to make up that salat?
ANSWER
If there is enough time to perform an obligatory salat [before the time for it expires], it is fard to perform it. If she has failed to perform it, it is fard to make it up. (Hindiyya)