2) If the bleeding does not end in 10 days will she have to take a ghusl and start offering salat? What about wudu?
3) Can the couple have intercourse after 10 days if bleeding doesn’t stop?
Answer:
If a woman bleeds for less than 3 days, it is not menstruation; instead it is istihaada (dysfunctional vaginal bleeding).
During istihaada, a woman is required to offer her salat. If a woman finds out later on that her bleeding was istihaada, she must make up the prayers that she omitted.
If the blood exceeds 10 days (240 hours) and she has a menstrual habit, the days in excess of her habit are istihaada. She must take ghusl and start offering salat. Also:
a) She must make up the prayers omitted during the days in excess of her habit.
b) There is no sin for having not performed the prayers as she is obliged to wait as long as there is bleeding during the possible days of menstruation.
For example, a woman’s habit is to bleed for 5 days in her menstrual cycle. However, this time her bleeding continued after the 5th day. She should not offer her salat yet; instead she should wait and see. If the bleeding stops before 10 days then all those days will be counted as menstruation. However, if the bleeding does not stop at the end of 10 days (i.e. 240 hours) then only 5 days (i.e. her habit) will be counted as menstruation; and the other days from the 6th day onwards will be counted as istihaada. Therefore, she will have to do qada of the prayers that she missed from the 6th day onwards.
Will your wudu break if you bleed? The answer to this is yes, bleeding will break your wudu in normal circumstances. Therefore, you should place something inside your private part during istihaada to stop blood from coming out. For this purpose, you can use tissue paper, cotton wool, tampon, diaphragm etc. The wudu will not break as long as the blood does not leak or reach the edge of the vaginal opening. Note that any coloured discharge coming down the string of a tampon is considered leakage, and it breaks the wudu.
If, however, you qualify as a ma’zoor (excused person) then special rules will apply. You will qualify as a ma’zoor when the following condition is met: A complete time of salaat elapses in such a way that the bleeding does not stop for long enough for you to be able to perform the salaat in complete purity.
Once you are classified as a ma’zoor, you will continue to be classified as a ma’zoor as long as you bleed at least once during every salaat time. If an entire time passes in which you do not bleed, you will not remain a ma’zoor.
If you do qualify as a ma’zoor then you can ask us about the special rules that will apply.
3) Yes, intercourse is permissible during istihaada.
Mufti Faizal Riza
3/11/2011