When Is It Permitted to Engage in Sexual Intercourse With One’s Wife Following the End of Her Period?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

I have found in a Hanafi Fiqh book that the Husband is not allowed to have intercourse with his wife right when the period ends. Is this an absolute ruling?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

When it would be permitted to engage in sexual intercourse with one’s wife following the end of her period would depend on when it ends:

1. If the period lasts ten days, which is the maximum period, then it would be permitted to engage in sexual relations without the need for a ritual-bath (ghusl) or the passing of a prayer time.

2. If the period lasts less than ten days but ends after the wife’s habit, it would be permitted to engage in sexual relations only after she takes a ritual-bath (ghusl) or tayammum [i.e. if she has an excuse to do so] or a prayer time passes.

3. If the period ends before her habit then sexual relations would not be permitted until she completes her habit.

[Birgivi, Dhukhr al-Muta’ahilin]

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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 studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.