When Does One Take a Ritual Bath After a 15-Day Menstruation?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad 

Question

If the maximum duration for a period is 15 days, should ghusl be done on the 15th day or wait until the 16th?

Answer

Thank you for your question. If one’s period was exactly 15 days long, one would take one’s ghusl after the full 15th day ends, or give or take a few hours, until the next prayer time if there isn’t a prayer that needs to be prayed immediately.

Istihada

In the Shafi`i school, if one has 15 days of continuous bleeding that exceeds 15 days, one discerns the colours and treats the weak colours as istihada. One would look back (after the 15th day) and discern and make up the prayers that were missed on the days of weak bleeding. If one’s bleeding was the same in thickness, colour, and smell and exceeded 15 days, one would apply one’s habit to be one’s menstruation and consider the rest purity/istihada. [Ibn Hajar’s Tuhfat al-Muhtaj and its Hawashi]

Please see more details here by Shaykh Hamza Karamali:

Bleeding Longer than 15 Days (Abnormal Uterine Bleeding)

Should I Start Praying After the Strong Colors of My Menstruation Are Over?

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad 
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.