Am I Pure Even If Blood Occurs after Ten Days of Menstruation?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question

I have switched birth controls and now have the hormonal IUD, which has caused me to get my period after not getting it for over a year. Unfortunately, it started as light, and I prayed two prayers because I did not realize it was my period and dismissed it as spotting. I am on my 8th day now. I know that Islamically, a period is supposed to last from 3-10 days, but I want to know what to do if I still see blood or spotting on the eleventh day and after.

Should I mark the 10th day as the last day, do ghusl, and start praying? What about intercourse; can I do that if I still see blood after ten days?

Answer

If your cycle exceeds ten days, you should return it to whatever your previous habit was. Any blood seen beyond that will be considered non-menstrual. Thus, if your last habit was eight days and you then see fifteen days of blood, the first eight count as menstrual and the remaining seven as non-menstrual.

If one’s cycle exceeds ten days, one would be permitted to engage in sexual relations without the need for a ritual bath (ghusl) or the passing of a prayer time. Any blood you see after this period is not menstrual, so the impermissibility of engaging in sexual intercourse does not apply.

[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Born and raised in New York, Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studied Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is now in his final year of his PhD at Oxford University, looking at the early evolution of the Hanafi madhab.
His teachers include: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, Shaykh Salah Abu’l Hajj, Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Snobar, Shaykh Ali Hani, Shaykh Hamza Bakri, Ustadh Rajab Harun and others.
Ustadh Salman’s personal interests include research into the fields of law/legal methodology, hadith, theology, as well as political theory, government, media, and ethics. He is also an avid traveler and book collector. He currently resides in the UK with his wife.