Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
What color need the discharge be before a woman can resume praying after the monthly cycle? If it’s still brown even though it’s a little can one pray?
Wa alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
The strongest position in the Shafi’i school is that a woman may not resume praying until her discharge is white or clear, such that were she to insert a cotton ball into her vagina, it would come out unstained. If the discharge is brown or yellow, or some colour between yellow and white (such that it stains a cotton ball), the blood is still considered menstrual blood.
This assumes that the discharge does not last longer than 15 days. If it does, then the woman is in a state of abnormal uterine bleeding, and different rules apply.
Please don’t hesitate to ask further questions if something is unclear.
And Allah knows best.
Hamza