Islamic Fiqh > Purification (Tahara) > Menstruation (hayd), lochia and irregular bleeding > Nifas (postpartum bleeding) and specific rules
Contents
Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
Nifas, the postpartum bleeding, accompanies childbirth, and the hayd imposes its rules on prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, recitation and marital life. This page gathers the specific rulings, school by school, with the proofs and the takhrij.
Seven differences separate menses from lochia (the sheet on the maxima of nifas):
On the maximum of lochia, Abu Hanifa and Ahmad give forty days. Al-Mughni says this is the view of most people of knowledge; al-Tirmidhi reports the consensus of the Prophet's companions and their successors: the woman in lochia leaves the prayer for forty days, unless she sees purity before, then she washes and prays; Abu Ubayd adds that this is the way of the mass of people.
In their time, the woman in lochia would sit out, that is, leave the prayer, for forty days or forty nights after her delivery, says Umm Salama.
a sahih hadith narrated by Abu Dawud (311), al-Tirmidhi (139) and Ibn Majah (641)
Malik and al-Shafi'i give sixty days, and it is also a narration of Ahmad reported by Ibn Aqil. Their proof: al-Awza'i said "among us, a woman saw lochia for two months," and the like is reported from Ata' that he observed it; one returns to existence. Malik has another narration: no limit to the maximum, the woman sits out as long as women sit out, and one consults the women of knowledge and experience in this matter. The reason for his view: custom is a foundation to which one returns, women know it and distinguish what belongs to them from what does not; the verse makes them trustees of what Allah created in their wombs (surah al-Baqara, 228), and the Prophet relied on the knowledge of Fatima bint Abi Hubaysh: when the menses come, leave the prayer; when they turn away, wash.
The three imams, Abu Hanifa, Malik and al-Shafi'i, judge that the woman whose lochia stops before the limit fasts, prays, and marital intimacy is permitted to her.
Ahmad disapproves of a husband's intimacy before the forty days, according to the hadith of Uthman ibn Abi al-As: his wife came to him before the forty, and he said: "Do not approach me" (al-Darimi 1/229, Ibn al-Jarud in al-Muntaqa, Abd al-Razzaq 1/313; the chain is sahih according to al-Albani). The reason: the return of blood during intimacy cannot be excluded, which would then be intimacy during lochia. Ibn Qudama clarifies that it is a recommendative view: she has the ruling of the pure, hence the obligation to wash, pray and fast.
If her blood returns within the forty days, two narrations: according to the first, all of it is lochia, she leaves prayer and fasting, then washes, prays and fasts at the stop; this is the view of Ata' and al-Sha'bi, for it is blood within the time of lochia, therefore lochia like the first. According to the second, the blood is doubtful: she prays and fasts, then makes up the fast as a precaution; this is the famous narration of Ahmad reported by al-Athram, and intimacy does not return to the husband. The reason: the cause of the dispensations is certain, their removal is doubtful, and certainty does not fall by doubt; the makeup of the fast is precautionary because the obligation is certain and its removal by this blood is doubtful.
This blood differs from that exceeding the usual six or seven days of the forgetful woman: there, no makeup of the fast is due, for the customs of women lean toward six or seven days and the excess is rare; here, lochia does not recur the way menses does, hence the required makeup.
Malik says: if she sees blood two or three days after the stop, it is lochia; if the gap widens, it is menses. Among the Shafiites, blood of one day and one night after fifteen days of purity admits two views, menses or lochia; blood shorter than a day and a night is blood of corruption: she prays and fasts without makeup, the view of Abu Thawr.
All jurists agree: the woman who expels a fetus with a formed part visible, a finger for example, becomes a woman in lochia, for it is the beginning of the creation of a human being and her waiting period ends with it.
If nothing of its creation is visible, divergence opens:
The jurists differ on the blood flowing from the pregnant woman: menses or blood of sickness? Hanafites, Hanbalites and Shafiites in one view say it is blood of sickness, not menses. Their proofs: the hadith of Abu Sa'id, about the captives of Awtas: "The pregnant woman is not approached until she delivers, and the one who is not pregnant until she has menstruated once" (Abu Dawud 2157, al-Darimi 2295, Ahmad, a sahih hadith): the existence of menses attests the womb's freedom, so they do not join pregnancy; and the hadith of Ibn Umar: "Let him take her back, then divorce her pure or pregnant" (Muslim 1471): pregnancy attests the absence of menses as purity does.
Consequences: the pregnant woman who sees blood leaves neither the prayer, nor the fast, nor i'tikaf, nor tawaf, and her husband is not barred from her. The Hanbalites add: what she sees one, two or three days before delivery is blood of lochia; and washing at the stop of the blood is recommended, as a precaution and to exit the disagreement.
Malikites, Shafiites in the soundest view, and Ahmad in a narration chosen by Shaykh al-islam Ibn Taymiyya say: the blood of the pregnant woman is menses if its conditions gather. Al-Shirazi argues: breastfeeding does not prevent this blood, nor does pregnancy, like lochia; al-Nawawi explains: the nursing woman rarely menstruates, so too the pregnant one; if blood appears during nursing, it is menses by agreement, likewise during pregnancy; his comparison with lochia targets twins born six months apart. The Malikites rely on al-Muwatta (131): Malik learned that Aisha declared the pregnant woman who sees blood exempt from prayer; al-Qarafi sees in it a consensus and that of the people of Madina.
No prayer is valid from the menstruating woman: menses prevents its validity as they lift its obligation. Ibn al-Mundhir reports the consensus of all scholars on the lifting of the obligation, according to the Prophet's word to Fatima bint Abi Hubaysh:
When the menses come, leave the prayer; when they turn away, wash then pray.
narrated by al-Bukhari (306) and Muslim (333)
Al-Nawawi says it is an interdiction of prohibition: the prayer is invalidated, obligatory or supererogatory, according to the apparent meaning of the hadith; tawaf, the funeral prayer, the prostration of recitation and the prostration of gratitude are likewise forbidden, and all of this is agreed upon.
No makeup is due: the scholars agree that the menstruating woman owes nothing of the prayers of her days of menses. The proof is the hadith of Mu'adha:
I asked Aisha: why does the menstruating woman make up the fast and not the prayer? She said: are you a Haruri? I said: no, but I ask. She said: that befell us, we were ordered to make up the fast and we were not ordered the prayer.
narrated by al-Bukhari (321) and Muslim (335)
If she wants to make up voluntarily: the Hanafites see in it the contrary of what is most fitting (Ibn Abidin, via al-Nahr, supports it by their statement about the one who washes his head instead of wiping); the Malikites do not recommend it and dislike it, al-Dasuqi saying she neither makes up by obligation nor by recommendation; among the Shafiites, al-Jalal says it is disliked, a supererogatory act without reward, the prayer being forbidden for its own sake, while al-Baydawi says it is forbidden; while al-Ramli yet holds it valid on the retained view of dislike.
Remains the reverse case: the pure woman at the start of the time who sees her blood during the time. The Hanafites judge that the prayer falls, even if she had begun the duty; if she was in a supererogatory prayer, making it up becomes obligatory upon her, and Ibn al-Humam states it is their scholars' view (Sharh Fath al-Qadir 1/171, Ibn Abidin 1/485). The Malikites detail: if the blood arrives in a time shared between two prayers, both fall; in a time specific to one, that one alone falls and the other remains due. The start of the afternoon is specific to dhuhr, then the two share the time, before asr reserves its end: blood in the shared time drops dhuhr and asr; in the end specific to asr, only the makeup of asr falls and dhuhr remains due; in the start specific to dhuhr, it falls, and if it extends into the shared time, asr falls, then becomes due again at purification; the same reasoning holds for maghrib and isha (al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya 1/35, Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/138-146).
Shaykh al-islam Ibn Taymiyya decides: the evidence leans toward the view of Abu Hanifa and Malik, nothing becomes due to her; makeup is only obligatory by a new command, and no command binds her here, for her delay was lawful, unlike the sleeper, according to the hadith: "Whoever sleeps through a prayer or forgets it, let him pray it when he remembers it: that is its time," narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim; no sunna establishes makeup after the time, the command to repeat targeting the one who leaves a duty within its time (Majmu' al-Fatawa 23/335). The Shafiites: if the blood arrives at the start of the time, the prayer is due only if she caught the amount of one duty, and the second one that combines after it is not due; the Hanbalites: if she catches one takbira of ihram then menstruates, makeup becomes obligatory upon her, without that of what follows (al-Mughni 1/468, Kashshaf al-Qina' 1/259, Matalib Uli an-Nuha 1/320).
Fasting, for its part, is forbidden and invalid absolutely, obligatory or supererogatory. The consensus is reported by al-Nawawi, Ibn Jarir, Ibn Qudama and Ibn Hubayra, according to the Prophet's word:
Is it not that one of you, when she menstruates, neither prays nor fasts? From that comes the deficiency of her religion.
narrated by al-Bukhari (304)
Ibn Battal says: this text establishes that the prayer obligation falls from the menstruating woman, that fasting is forbidden during her days, that the missed fast is made up and not the prayer; the whole community stands so, except a group of Kharijites who imposed the makeup of the prayer, against the scholars of the early and later generations. A single drop during the day ruins the fast of that day; Ibn Qudama adds that the menstruating woman and the woman in lochia who fast do not validate it, according to the words of Aisha and Abu Sa'id already cited.
The makeup of the Ramadan fast is obligatory by a consensus reported by Ibn al-Mundhir, Ibn Jarir, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nawawi and others; al-Qurtubi confirms it. Menses, finally, does not break the continuity of the two-month expiatory fast: Ibn al-Mundhir reports the consensus that the woman bound to two consecutive months who menstruates resumes at her purification; the reason: menstruation inevitably occurs within the month, and postponing the expiation until menopause is risky. The Hanafites except the expiation of the oath and the like.
All jurists agree: the menstruating woman purified within the time of a prayer owes that prayer. They differ over the one preceding it. Abu Hanifa renders due only the prayer whose time she caught; Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad render it due according to the following detail.
The Hanafites: if her custom is ten days, their maximum, and she purifies at the end of the time, the duty of that time is due to her even if only the time of prohibition remains; if her days are below ten, the time of the ghusl plus that of the prohibition is required, otherwise the prayer is not due and not made up. At ten days, the cut of the blood suffices, as with the convert in a state of junub or the child reaching maturity (Bada'i' al-Sana'i' 1/320, Ibn Abidin 1/493).
The Malikites: purified with one rak'a possible, if it is dawn, she owes the fajr alone and the prayers missed during menses fall; before sunset, one to four rak'as possible render the asr due and the dhuhr dropped, five rak'as or more render both due; before dawn, one to three rak'as render the isha due and the maghrib dropped, four or more render both due. The rule: the narrow time specializes for the last prayer (al-Dasuqi 1/290-292, Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/146).
Shafiites and Hanbalites: one takbira caught of the time renders due the prayer of that time, plus the one preceding it if they combine, like dhuhr and asr before sunset, or maghrib and isha before dawn, according to the athar of Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf and Ibn Abbas reported by al-Athram and Ibn al-Mundhir: she who purifies before dawn with one rak'a prays the maghrib and the isha, and before sunset the dhuhr and the asr.
As for fasting: blood cut after dawn does not validate the fast of that day and its makeup is obligatory, without disagreement. Abstaining for the rest of the day is obligatory among Hanafites and Hanbalites; among the Malikites, eating is permitted and abstaining is not recommended; among the Shafiites, abstention is not obligatory. If she purifies before dawn, the fast of the day is due to her by agreement; the window divides them: the Hanafites hold two views, one requiring the time of the ghusl alone before dawn, the other, said correct by Ibn Nujaym, requiring ghusl and prohibition, for the isha becomes a debt upon her and she is judged pure. The Malikites in the famous view of Malik and Ibn al-Qasim: any sign of purity before dawn, even an instant, renders the fast due, and a sign at dawn itself with the intention validates the fast; the ghusl may wait until after dawn, by analogy with the junub, purity not being a condition of the fast; Ibn al-Majishun requires the time of the ghusl before dawn. Ibn Abd al-Barr decides: the correct view is that of Malik and Ibn al-Qasim, followed by most Malikites and the mass of scholars (al-Kafi 1/123).
The Shafiites and Hanbalites set no window: from the cut, the prohibition of fasting lifts, even without a ghusl, says al-Nawawi. If she took the intention to fast before the night cut, her fast is valid when the maximum of her menses or the time of her custom is reached, which is the soundest among the two schools; the Hanbalites add that if she knows she purifies before dawn, her fast is valid because of the hardship of coincidence (Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/309-315, Nihayat al-Muhtaj 3/118).
The jurists agree that the menstruating woman is barred from no act of the pilgrimage, except the tawaf of the House, which is invalid from her. Aisha said the Prophet ordered her, when she menstruated:
Do everything the pilgrim does, except circling the House.
narrated by al-Bukhari (290, 299) and Muslim (1211)
Al-Nawawi says the invalidity of the tawaf of the menstruating woman is a matter of consensus, but the cause differs: for Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad purity is a condition of it; for Abu Hanifa and Dawud it is not, the cause being the prohibition of staying in the mosque (Sharh Sahih Muslim 8/147).
The legislated tawafs are three: that of arrival, a sunna with most jurists, Malik rendering it obligatory in two narrations, with a Hanbalite view in the same direction (al-Mirdawi, al-Insaf); that of ifada, a pillar of the pilgrimage by agreement; that of farewell, an obligation with Abu Hanifa, Ahmad and al-Shafi'i in his soundest view, a sunna with Malik and in his second opinion.
If she menstruates before the tawaf of arrival: nothing upon her for those who count it a sunna; among the Malikites it is not due as long as her excuse persists until the standing of Arafat. If she menstruates before the tawaf of ifada: she remains in ihram until her purification, for her tawaf in a state of menses is invalid among Malikites, Shafiites and Hanbalites; the Hanafites judge it valid with a prohibition-level dislike and a cow (badana) as expiation, and a Hanbalite narration validates it too with compensation by a sacrifice. Al-Mirdawi decides: the correct of the madhhab is that she is barred from it absolutely and her tawaf is invalid, the choice of the mass of companions; a narration of Ahmad renders it valid compensated by a dam, and Shaykh al-islam Ibn Taymiyya chooses its permissibility in case of necessity, without expiation.
For the farewell tawaf, the four schools agree that the menstruating woman departs without performing it, a lightening for her: the Prophet ordered Safiyya, in menses, to "depart without farewell" (al-Bukhari 322, 1673; Muslim). And if she purifies before leaving the buildings of Makkah, the return for the tawaf of ifada becomes obligatory upon her, with the ghusl, failing which a beast is due; purified outside Makkah, nothing is due to her; Shafiites and Hanbalites state it explicitly, according to the consultation of Zayd ibn Thabit with Ibn Abbas (Muslim 1328).
On recitation, two views. Hanafites, Shafiites in the madhhab and Hanbalites in the madhhab forbid it to the menstruating woman, according to the hadith:
The menstruating woman and the junub recite nothing of the Quran.
narrated by al-Tirmidhi (131) and Ibn Majah (581); a weak hadith: al-Nawawi says in al-Majmu' (2/174) that it is weakened by al-Bukhari and al-Bayhaqi, and the weakness in it is clear
Malikites, Shafiites in one opinion, and Ahmad in a view chosen by Shaykh al-islam Ibn Taymiyya permit the recitation; Ibn Taymiyya renders it obligatory if she fears forgetting. His arguments: the hadith that forbids it is weak by the agreement of the hadith experts; the women menstruated in the time of the Messenger of Allah without his barring them, as he did not bar them from dhikr or supplication; he ordered them to go out on the day of the Eid and to magnify with the Muslims, and he ordered the menstruating woman all the rites, talbiya, Muzdalifa, Mina, except the tawaf; the junub, for his part, can purify himself, she cannot (Majmu' al-Fatawa 21/461-462).
The Malikites detail: during the flowing of the blood, recitation is permitted to her absolutely, junub or not, fearing forgetting or not; after the stop, she recites only after the ghusl, unless she fears forgetting: this is the retained view reported by al-Dasuqi; a weak view permits it before ghusl if she was not junub before her menses; and the statement of Ibn Arafa with al-Baji says she recites after her purity before washing (al-Dasuqi 1/178).
On touching the mushaf, no disagreement among the four schools: touching it is forbidden to the menstruating woman, the junub and the one in minor impurity, in principle. Ibn Qudama says: no opponent is known except Dawud. The proofs: the word of Allah:
None touch it except the purified.
Surah al-Waqi'a, 79
And the letter of the Messenger of Allah to the Yemenites:
None touch it except one who is pure.
a sahih hadith narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta (1/199), al-Darimi (2266) and al-Daraqutni (1/122)
The Malikites except the teacher and the learner: touching the whole mushaf, a part of it or the tablet is permitted to them; some exclude the junub, capable of purifying with her hand, but the retained view among them grants touching and carrying to the junub, man or woman, during learning and teaching, for the hardship, whether the need is reading or memorization. Ibn Taymiyya, asked about touching the mushaf without wudu, answers that the madhhab of the four imams is that none touches it except in a state of purity.
The jurists of the four schools agree on the purity of the body of the menstruating woman, of her sweat and of her saliva, on the lawfulness of eating her food, kneading her dough and touching what she moistened, and on eating with her and living with her without blame. The origin is the behavior of the Jews, who refused food and intimacy to the menstruating woman; Allah then revealed:
They ask you about menses. Say: it is a nuisance. So keep away from women during menses and do not approach them until they are purified; when they have purified themselves, go to them as Allah has ordered you. Allah loves the repentant and He loves those who purify themselves.
Surah al-Baqara, 222
The Prophet then said: do everything, except intercourse. When Usayd ibn Hudayr and Abd ibn Bishr reported that the Jews said so, the face of the Messenger of Allah changed.
narrated by Muslim (302)
The hadiths establish it: he asked for the mat of the mosque, Aisha said she was menstruating, he answered that "your menses are not in your hand" (Muslim 291); he drank from Aisha's leftover and set his mouth where she had drunk (Muslim 300); she washed his head while menstruating (Muslim 297). The consensus is reported by Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Nawawi, Ibn Qudama and al-Shawkani. The sweat of the junub is likewise pure, attested by Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas and Aisha, followed by Ata', Ibn Jubayr, al-Sha'bi and al-Hasan; Aisha and al-Hasan added the sweat of the menstruating woman, and this is the view of Malik, al-Shafi'i and the jurists of opinion. Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet said to him, finding him avoiding: "Glory to Allah! The believer is not impure," a statement agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim; and to a woman who had dipped her hand in the water in a state of junub: "The water does not take the janaba."
Her access to the mosque follows these rules: Shafiites and Hanbalites forbid passing if she fears soiling the place, the means taking the ruling of the end; if she is safe from it, the Shafiites, except Imam al-Haramayn, still dislike passing, which Imam al-Haramayn forbids absolutely; the Hanbalites let her pass without sitting, Ahmad saying in Ibrahim's narration: pass and do not sit (al-Mughni 1/185-187, Kashshaf al-Qina' 1/148-149, al-Insaf 1/347-348).
Intercourse with the menstruating woman is forbidden until the end of her blood, by a consensus reported by al-Nawawi, Shaykh al-islam Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Hubayra; the proof is the verse of menses cited above and the hadith "do everything, except intercourse." Ibn Taymiyya extends it: intercourse with the woman in lochia is like that with the menstruating woman, forbidden by the agreement of the imams (Majmu' al-Fatawa 21/624).
Pleasure taken above the navel and below the knee is lawful by a consensus reported by Ibn Qudama and al-Nawawi; al-Mughni (1/203) says: by the text and the consensus, intercourse with the sex is forbidden by both. For what lies between navel and knee, Hanafites, Malikites and Shafiites in the madhhab forbid it, according to the hadith of Aisha:
When one of us menstruated and the Messenger of Allah wanted to be close to her, he ordered her to put a waist-wrap over her sex, then he drew near her. Which of you then masters his impulse as the Prophet mastered his?
narrated by al-Bukhari (300) and Muslim (293)
The reason: what lies between navel and knee is the sanctuary of the sex, and he who grazes at the edge of the sanctuary risks entering it. The Hanafites and Shafiites permit pleasure at that place behind a screen, which the Malikites refuse. Ahmad, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, Asbagh ibn al-Faraj and some Shafiites permit pleasure with the menstruating woman in everything below the sex; al-Nawawi says this view is the strongest in proof and the chosen one: the verse names the place of menses, as one says the place of rest and the place of lying down, which proves lawfulness beyond it; the hadith only forbids intercourse, for the nuisance; the waist-wrap of Aisha proves the lawfulness of what is above it; and the Prophet left lawful things out of distaste, like the dabb and the hare. The hadith of Masruq establishes it: "everything, except her sex" (Ibn Jarir, tafsir 2/383, a sahih chain). The Hanbalites recommend veiling the sex during closeness; and they except the one whose desire cannot be repelled without penetration, who fears a crack, finds none but his menstruating wife and cannot afford the dowry of another.
No expiation is due, but a charity is recommended: Hanafites and Shafiites recommend a dinar if intercourse occurred at the beginning of menses and half a dinar if at its end (Ibn Abidin 1/494, Tabyin al-Haqa'iq 1/57).
After the stop of the blood but before the ghusl, the mass of jurists, Malikites, Shafiites and Hanbalites, forbids intercourse until purification and washing; Ibn al-Mundhir says it is like a consensus among them, and al-Marrudhi knows no divergence. The reason: the verse sets two conditions, "until they are pure," that is the stop of the blood, and "when they have purified themselves," that is the washing, supported by "Allah loves those who purify themselves," as delivering wealth to orphans requires maturity and sound judgment together.
The Hanafites detail: if the blood cuts at the tenth day, their maximum, intercourse is lawful by the mere stop, the ghusl remaining recommended, according to the two readings of the verse; before ten days she is not judged pure, for the blood may return: ghusl or tayammum is required, or the passing of the minimum time of a prayer, ghusl and prohibition becoming possible, the prayer becomes a debt and she is judged pure; if the cut comes at the exact end of her custom, washing or tayammum is required; and if the blood cuts before the end of her custom but beyond three days, intercourse remains forbidden until the end of the custom, even after ghusl, for the return of the blood is dominant: custom of ten days, blood of three, purity of six, nothing is permitted before the ten.
If she purifies and finds no water: Abu Hanifa in the famous view forbids intercourse before a completed tayammum and a prayer with it; Malik forbids intercourse before the ghusl; al-Shafi'i and Ahmad permit the tayammum alone, even without praying with it (al-Ifsah 1/106, al-Muhadhdhab 1/45, al-Ishraf 1/55, Bada'i' al-Sana'i' 1/45).
Medications: the Hanbalites permit the woman to drink a lawful medication to cut her menses, with no harm; the qadi adds the husband's permission, like withdrawal, and it is the correct view according to al-Insaf; Ahmad says the wife asks her husband, and the man who imposes it without her knowledge exposes himself to prohibition, an offense against the right of the fetus. The medication that hastens purification is judged valid: custom of eight days, cut on the third, she is declared pure. The one that provokes blood before its time: the Malikites declare it outside menses, she remains pure, the waiting does not run, she prays and fasts, making up the fast as a precaution (Mawahib al-Jalil 1/365-366, al-Dasuqi 1/268-270); Malik dislikes delaying the menses, Ibn Rushd explaining the fear of bodily harm. The medication to provoke menses is permitted except for a forbidden aim, like breaking the Ramadan fast, says Ibn Taymiyya. Among the Shafiites, the apparent is permission; al-Nawawi says that if she drinks a medication that triggers her menses, no makeup of the prayers is due, nor in the case of a miscarriage followed by breathing (al-Majmu' 2/479).
Intimacy with the istihada woman: the mass of jurists, Hanafites, Malikites, Shafiites and Hanbalites in one view, permit it; the blood of istihada is not a nuisance that blocks prayer and fasting, therefore not intercourse, and the verse of menses addresses her as purified. Hamna bint Jahsh, according to Ikrima, "was in istihada and her husband was close to her" (Abu Dawud 310, hasan); Ibn Abbas said: "the istihada woman receives her husband when she has prayed, the prayer is greater" (al-Bukhari in mu'allaq form 1/125); she has the status of the pure in prayer, fasting, i'tikaf and recitation, therefore in intimacy; it is the blood of a vein, like the fistula, with no text of prohibition.
The Hanbalites in the madhhab forbid it, unless he fears harm by abstaining. Their proof: the athar of Aisha reported by al-Khallal, "the istihada woman is not approached by her husband" (al-Bayhaqi, as-Sunan al-Kubra 1460), and the nuisance motivating the prohibition of menses, every blood that must be washed being judged impure; if abstention leads him to a forbidden thing, it becomes permitted to him, his ruling being lighter than that of menses, with no expiation. After the stop, intimacy is permitted without ghusl, the ghusl not being an obligation upon her, as with incontinence. Ibn Rushd sums up three views: permitted, the view of the jurists of the great cities, reported from Ibn Abbas, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib and successors; forbidden, reported from Aisha, followed by al-Nakha'i and al-Hakam; permitted only if the bleeding lasts, the view of Ahmad. The cause of the divergence: license against the status of the pure; the distinction of long and short belongs to istihsan (Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/45-46).
The Hanbalites define the hayd: a natural blood that flows in health, without cause of childbirth, from the depth of the womb of a woman who has reached the age, at known times (Kashshaf al-Qina' 1/196). Al-Ruhaybani adds that Allah created it to carry pregnancy and nourish the child: the pregnant woman does not menstruate, the nursing one rarely, and the typical custom runs six to seven days a month. Its names include tamth and iraq.
The woman must learn what she needs of the rulings of the hayd; her husband or her guardian must teach her if he knows, otherwise authorize her to go out and ask the scholars; preventing her is forbidden, and she may go out even without his permission if he does not authorize her. The knowledge of menses is a knowledge of one's state, obligatory by agreement. Ibn Nujaym says: the knowledge of the questions of menses ranks among the greatest obligations, for countless rulings depend on it: purification, prayer, recitation, fasting, i'tikaf, pilgrimage, maturity, intimacy, divorce, waiting and istibra'.
In practice: the menstruating woman leaves the prayer and the fast, makes up the fast alone, performs her pilgrimage without the tawaf, and recites according to the Malikite view and the late Hanbalite view; the couple abstains from penetration until the ghusl, everything else of the body being open according to the views; istihada is managed with wudu for each prayer. Individual cases, irregular durations, miscarriages, hormonal medications, call for the ruling of a competent scholar, school by school.