When Can I Start My Prayers after a Miscarriage?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

I had a miscarriage at four weeks and bled like a normal period for a week. Now I notice a white discharge with a slight reddish appearance. The redness can only be identified with a tissue. Can I start my prayers?

Answer

I pray you are well and that Allah Most High gives you a tremendous reward for the difficulty you have suffered.

It is most likely that the fetus will not have any distinguishable features, so that we would treat your pregnancy as the time of purity between two menstrual cycles. This means that the week of bleeding will be treated as though it was a period.

The red coloring in the discharge will be treated as dysfunctional bleeding (istihada). Therefore, you should treat it as a period until ten whole days have passed – the maximum duration of a proper menstrual cycle. Do not pray until this time.

After that, go back to your menstrual habit, and make up the prayers from that day until day 10. Your habit is the number of days of your last proper menstrual cycle. A proper menstrual cycle is between 3 and 10 days, and it has to have at least 15 days of purity before and after it.

If there is still some coloring from day ten, treat it as dysfunctional bleeding and keep praying.

Good News For You

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said, “[I swear] by the one in whose hand is my soul, the miscarried fetus will pull his mother into Paradise with his umbilical cord if she expects a reward from [his loss].” [Ahmad]

Expect a reward from Allah. You won’t be disappointed.

May Allah bless you with the best of both worlds.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital and he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.