Does Abnormal Bleeding Requires Istinja and Wudu for Each Prayer?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

If a female has abnormal bleeding, does she need to make istinja and wudu for each prayer? If she wants to pray a sunnah, can she pray it with the same wudu she made for the obligatory prayer? What if she has to make up prayers, does she have to make istinja and wudu for each obligatory make-up prayer?

Answer

If a woman is in a state of istihadha, she should repeat her purification for every obligatory prayer in the Shafi’i school.

This is the sequence: After the prayer time has come in, wash the private parts, apply a dressing, and/or block the exiting of the discharge with cotton or the like if she is not a virgin, make wudu with the intention of seeking permission to pray, and pray right away without delay.

She could delay if she was waiting for a group to gather to pray, and she could pray her sunnas while she waits.

She can and should pray her pre-fard sunnas and then her fard and then her post-fard sunnas on that purification whether alone or with a group. She can continue to pray non-obligatory prayers or carry a mushaf until she prays the next obligatory prayer, in which case she must repeat the purification after its time has come in. [Summarized from the Reliance of the Traveller]

If she is making up obligatory prayers, she should repeat her purification process for each obligatory makeup. It might be worthwhile to hold off on making up these fard prayers until her istihadha is over.

May Allah make it easy for you and relieve you from your istihadha.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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.