Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
I have a normal & quite predictable menstrual cycle. From the 1st – 8th day of my period, it bleeds normally (red/ dark brown). On the 9th day, yellow or creamy discharge will come out continuously until the 15th or 16th day, sometimes in a very little, but still continuous. It stops until the 28th – 30th day before I get my period again for the next month.
a) Is that yellow or creamy discharge considered to be part of my period?
b) If it only stops until the 16th or the 17th day, when should I take my ghusl, is it during `Isha’ of the 15th day?
c) Should I pray `Isha’ after the ghusl, then? If I start bleeding (red/ dark brown) again on the 28th day continuously for 8 days, followed by yellow or creamy discharge (in other words, the same cycle repeats again)
d) Should I wait until the 30th day before considering the blood to be my next period?
Assalamu alaykum
In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful
- Yes, it is considered menstruation.
- Take your ghusl exactly 15 days after first show of period.
There is slight catch here. If your period stops on day 15, then days 1-15 are considered your period.
If it continues beyond 15 days (you said that it lasts 16 or 17), then you have istihada. What you should do is go back and consider the strong days to be menstruation and consider the weak days as pure. The stronger colors would be considered menstruation, for example: if you saw red, then brown, then yellow until day 13 and then creamy until day 16, then everything except for creamy is menstruation. If you saw red and brown until day 14 and then yellow until beyond 15, then the red and brown would be menstruation. You would then have to make up the prayers of the days that you initially thought were menstruation, but now have discovered that they were not.
- So, the answer is that you must pray whatever prayer is in at that time, after having taken your ghusl, and then make up the days that you thought were menstruation but really were not.
The next month, you would immediately assume that your pattern will be similar to the previous month, so you do not have to wait until 15 days to determine that you are in istihada (the default assumption is that you will bleed beyond 15 days). So you will assume that the creamy (in the first example I gave) or yellow (in the second one) is not menstruation, but rather purity.
- You should wait until 15 days of purity have elapsed to consider it your next period. (You should be praying for 15 days of purity) Remember that if you consider the yellow or creamy not to be menstruation, then they would count as part of the pure days.
All this is according to the relied-upon position of the school. Please let us know if something is unclear.
And Allah knows best.