Does a State of Major Ritual Impurity After the End of My Period Prevent Me From Fasting?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam’aleykum,

My period usually lasts for 6 or 7 days and I tend to perform the ritual bath on the 7th day. But this time I wasn’t able to perform it because I was in class. Would my fast have been valid on this 7th day while being in a state of major ritual impurity given the fact that this 7th day was free of discharge?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

In general, fasting in a state of major ritual impurity would be valid because its validity is not dependent upon being ritually pure for the prayer.

The exception, however, is for menstruating women, or those in their post-natal bleeding periods, because being free from such bleeding is a condition for the validity of the fast.

Further, the time required to perform the ritual bath (ghusl) is considered to be from the bleeding period in question, if her bleeding stops at some point before the maximum limit. Thus, her fasting without a bath would be invalid, yet she would need to abstain from food and drink for the rest of the day.

Otherwise, and when the blood finishes upon the completion of the maximum period, her fasting would in fact be valid as the time required for her bath would not be considered part of that bleeding, as she is no longer in a state of menstruation or post-natal bleeding.

But in any case, it is obligatory to take the means to pray when your menstruation stops, and being in class isn’t sufficient reason not to do so.

[Birgivi, Dhukhr al-Muta’ahhilin wa al-Nisa’; Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Please also see: Do I Complete My Fast On the Day My Menstruation Starts? and: Making Up Fasts Missed Due to Menstruation

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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