Women Islamic laws

A nafsa’sees blood on the first day of the childbirth and then it stops and then again it starts on or before the tenth day. In this case there are two possibilites:

(a) The second bleeding does not exceed the tenth day from the commencement of the first flow-both the flows and the pause between them will be regarded as one nifas. Of course, it is precautionarily better to act on precaution during the pause.

(b) The second bleeding exceeds the tenth day from the commencement of the first flow. This again has four possibilities:-

i. The woman has a fixed number of days for her menstrual cycles, and the second flow took place within the fixed number: For example, her menses usually continues for seven days; now she saw blood of nifas for two days from the childbirth, then it stopped, and re-started again on the sixth day and continued exceeding the tenth day. Then the first flow, the pause and the second bleeding within the fixed number (i.e, upto the seventh day after childbirth), will be regarded as one nifas and the remaining days will be istihazah.

ii. The woman has a fixed duration for her menstrual cycles, but the second flow did not take place during the fixed duration - then the first flow will be nifas, the pause will be regarded as a period of purity and the second flow will be regarded as istihazah.

iii. The woman does not have a fixed pattern for her menstrual cycles, and the second flow started during the fixed duration of her relatives' monthly periods - then the days equal to the duration of her relatives' monthly periods will be nifasand the remaining istihazah. Of course, if the duration of her relatives' periods is less than ten days then she should act on precaution after the last day up to the tenth day.

iv. The woman does not have a fixed pattern for her menstrual cycles, and the second flow started after the fixed duration of her relatives' monthly periods - then the first flow will be nifas; and during the pause and the second flow she should act on precaution up to the tenth day.

When the nifas stops but the nafsa’is uncertain whether or not it has stopped completely, then she should examine herself just as a hayz was required to do in similar circumstances.

Adopted from the book : "The Ritual Ablutions for Women (Taharatu N-Nisa')" by : "Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi"