Determining haydh

The rules of determining a woman’s first haydh after childbirth is again depending on the normal habit of the woman’s haydh:

1. For a woman who has a fixed habit of haydh:

a. If blood is seen continuously for a month or more after giving birth to a child, the blood seen for the days equal to her haydh habit will be Nifa-s, and the blood seen after that for ten days will be istiha-dha, even if it coincides with the dates of her monthly haydh.

b. After the lapse of ten days of istiha-dha, if bleeding continues, then it is haydh if it falls in the days of habit, irrespective of whether it has the signs of haydh 245 or not. If bleeding does not occur in the days of haydh habit, she should wait until the days of her habit, even if it means waiting for a month or more and even if blood has the signs of haydh.

Example: A woman has a fixed haydh habit is from 20th to 27th of every month. She gives birth on the 10th of a given month, and she continues to see blood for a month or more; her Nifa-s will be seven days, equal to her haydh days, and will be from 10th to 17th of that month; now, the blood which she continues to see from the 17th to the 27th, i.e. for ten days, will be istiha-dha even though it falls in her days of haydh habit.

c. If she has no fixed habit of commencement time of haydh, she should make an effort to recognise her haydh by its signs, and if that is not possible (because the blood seen after Nifa-s often remains of one type for a month or more), then she should adopt the habit prevailing among her blood relatives (mother, sisters, etc.) to determine the days of haydh. If that also is not possible, then she has an option of fixing her days of haydh. 246

2. For a woman who does not have a fixed habit of haydh

a. As explained earlier, the blood seen for the first ten days will be treated as Nifa-s, and as for the next ten days it will be istiha-dha. The blood seen thereafter can be either haydh or istiha-dha, and in order to ascertain whether it is haydh, she should follow the rule as above, i.e. recognise haydh by its signs, by the prevailing habit among relatives, or fixing her own days of haydh.

Notes:

245 Signs of haydh: Usually thick and warm and its colour is either black or red. It is discharged with a pressure and a little irritation.

246 Please refer to the haydh section of the Risa-lah for more information.

Adapted from the book: "From Marriage to Parenthood; The Heavenly Path" by: "Abbas and Shahin Merali"