Should I Make Up My One-Day Prayers Because More Blood Came Out After I Took a Shower and I Waited until the Next Day?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
I thought my period was over and I took a bath and prayed Zuhr yesterday. Later, 30 minutes before Asr, red blood appeared. And it had been dry since yesterday afternoon or evening. So I waited until Zuhr today.
Did I sin by missing prayers like yesterday’s Asr, Maghrib, Isha, and today’s Fajr? Am I required to make up these missed prayers?
Today I took a bath and prayed Zuhr. Later, a brownish discharge came. Will my clothing become Najis if that kind of brownish/yellowish discharge touches them?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
If you have experienced bleeding for a total of three days, you are considered in a state of menstruation. You will stop performing the ritual prayer and fasting.
Note that “three days” is calculated by combining the entire time between the first instance of bleeding to the most recent instance of bleeding (non-white colored discharge is considered blood)
If it adds to three days, it is menstruation.
Example One
For example, a woman sees some a brownish or yellowish discharge at 10am on Jan 5th, afterwards no discharge comes. Then, at 10am on Jan 10th she sees another instance of brownish discharge (or blood). She will add all the time between the two instances, in this case five whole days, and compare it to the minimum three day requirement for menstruation.
The only time you will not add the instances of bleeding together is if there is an interim fifteen full days of purity (i.e., no blood or colored discharge at all, other than white). In such case, the instances of blood before the fifteen days are seen as separate from that which occurred after the 15 days.
Example Two
For example, on Jan 5th, a woman sees blood on and off for four days after which the blood stopped. Jan 27th (more than fifteen days later), she sees more blood. The bleeding of Jan 5th is seen separate from that of the 27th; this is because a fifteen day interim separated the two instances and they are seen as distinct from one another.
Pauses in the Bleeding
If during your cycle (i.e., after the full three days) you experience a halt in the bleeding such that you think it is over, you will wait till closer to the end of the prayer time. [Birgivi; Dhukhr al-Muta’hhilin]
If no blood is seen, perform the ritual bath (ghusl), and pray. You will continue to pray as though you are pure again. [Ibid.]
If this purity continues for fifteen days – then you know that your cycle stopped at the halting of the blood, and your prayers are all valid. [Ibid.]
If, however, the blood comes back (right away or within fifteen days of the initial halting), those prayers, in retrospect, would not count and do not require making up as you would consider that a continuation of your menstruation. [Ibid.]
Istihada (Irregular Bleeding)
If by adding the first instance of bleeding to the most recent instance and calculate all the time between the two – you will come up with a final number. If that number is 72 hours or more, this is menstruation. (As explained in Example One) [Ibid.]
If it adds up to less than 72 hours, this has not yet reached the minimum of menstruation. In such case, one is still considered pure until one of two things occurs:
- Fifteen days pass with no instances of blood or colored discharge (see Example Two), or
- Another instance of blood (or colored discharge) is seen and added to the original sum which then equals 72 hours or more.
[Ibid.]
The First Case
In the first case, the bleeding is irregular bleeding, not menstruation. Any prayers not performed in that time period are made up; and you are not sinful, as you only discovered this later, in retrospect. [Ibid.]
Example Three
For example, on Jan 5th, a woman sees blood on and off for 2 days after which the blood stopped. Jan 26th (more than fifteen days later), she sees more blood. The bleeding of Jan 5th is seen separate from that of the 26th; this is because a fifteen day interim separated the two instances and they are seen as distinct from one another.
Note that after the bleeding halts she will wait till the end of each prayer time, perform wudu, and pray. This is because the bleeding halted and it is possible that it won’t come back. [Ibid.]
The Second Case
In the 2nd case, the bleeding is menstruation and any prayers performed during that time do not count and do not require make up. [Ibid.]
Example Four
For example, on Jan 5th, a woman sees blood on and off for 2 days (now Jan 7th) after which the blood stopped. Jan 16th (less than fifteen days later), she sees more blood. The bleeding of Jan 5-7th is added to that of the 16th; this is because no fifteen day interim separated the two instances and they are seen as one.
Note that “prayers…do not count” is legally speaking. However, you will be rewarded for them. Being that your menstruation was yet to be confirmed, you were correct in performing those prayers. [Ibid.]
Discharge
Any vaginal discharge, whether colorless or white discharge, is impure. If it comes in contact with one’s clothing, that point of contact is impure. If a women is on her menstruation, she will not require pure clothing as she is not praying. [Ibid.]
If, however, her discharge is part of irregular bleeding, she must wash away the impurities, that is if they are more than the excused amount (5cm surface area) in order for her prayer to be valid. [Ibid.]
Note that if the irregular bleeding is so constant that, either
- More discharge would come out prior to finishing her prayer, or;
- She would have to constantly wash or change her clothing multiple times throughout the day.
In both scenarios, she can perform the prayer without having to wash or change her clothing, as that would be unduly difficult for her. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Advice
It is very important and a personal obligation for every adult woman to learn the basic rulings of menstruation (and to ask, as you’ve done, in the case of a complicated or unique situation). The book Coming of Age by Ustadha Hedaya Hartford is a very accessible book to learn these rulings. It is in English, and has many practical examples, life experiences, and even illustrative charts to calculate the menstruation.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
