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Pill and Periods

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Askmufti.co.za
Q: A woman took the pill to stop her haiz (menstrual bleeding) in Ramdan. Her last normal bleeding ended on 4 Aug. (Her habit is 10 days). After about 17 days (around the 21 Aug) she noticed a slightly pinkish discharge, but it wasn’t blood or a brown colour. She described it as 60% yellow/cream and 40% pinkish.This was for about 2/3 days then stopped and it was just like 3 times only. After little more than 1 week she noticed something similar. It was also ambiguous – a cream/yellow and slight pinkish (around 60% yellowish/creamish and 40% pinkish).

Then she didn’t see anything till the end of Ramadan. She didn’t think anything of the slight pinkish discharge and kept all her fasts. Then she stopped the pill and today (on Eid), she noticed a definite brownish discharge, and she knows she can expect her periods now because she stopped the pill.

Was the 1st pinkish/creamish/yellowish discharge considered her haiz or not? Is her current definate brown discharge haiz or itihaza? If the 1st discharge was haiz, how many Qazas must she keep? And that would mean the current brown discharge (on eid day today) is istihaza (as it is less than 15 clean days)? If this is the case, should she carry on taking the pill till over 15 days till next wednesday, (15th September) to make sure that the bleeding will be haiz and not Istihaza?

If the 1st discharge was not haiz then its no problem, she must keep no Qaza and this brown discharge is definitely her haiz.

A: 1) In Shariah the pill is not a guarantee that haidh will not come. Even with the pill, a woman can expect haidh because Shariah defines haidh as a discharge from the womb. It is possible the pill stops the blood but does not prevent other discharge from the womb. That other discharge is also blood but in a mutated form.

2) Once the above is understood, it is clear that even while on the pill, the female must be wary of any flow and should consider the principles related to haidh. She must not discount the possibility of haidh entirely.
3) If the first flow (on 17 Aug) lasted for 3 full days, i.e. 72 hours, then it MUST be regarded as haidh because the conditions of haidh were found. That means she has to keep qadha of the fasts of those three days.  The colour of that flow does not matter.
4) If it lasted for less than 72 hours, then it was istihaadah and there is no qadha to keep.
5) The same as in number 3 and 4 will apply to the flow that began on Eid day.
6) There is no need for her to take any further pills. Let nature take its course and be prepared for whateve flow occurs.
 
I trust this answers the query. Feel free to write back for any further clarification or if there were further developments.

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This answer was collected from AskMufti.co.za, which is operated under the supervision of Mufti Siraj Desai of Darul-Uloom Abubakr, South Africa.