Q: A lady doesn’t have a fixed time for her periods. It sometimes comes after a year, sometimes after six months sometimes after 3 months. The days it last for also vary. Sometimes 5 days, sometimes 10 days, sometimes 12 days. How many days does the husband have to wait after it ends before he can have relations with her?
A: The minimum period of haidh is three days and the maximum is ten days. If a woman does not have a set pattern of bleeding, then she should consider the number of days she bled in the previous haidh. Hence if she bled for five days in the previous haidh, then she should consider five days as her cycle. It will be permissible for the husband to have relations with her after five days. However it should be borne in mind that if the bleeding continues for more than the five days but stops within ten days, then in this case her pattern will change and the entire period will be regarded as haidh. If the bleeding surpasses ten days, then five days will be regarded as her haidh and the remainder days of bleeding will be regarded as istihaaza. For further details regarding the laws of istihaaza refer to http://muftionline.co.za/node/9865
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Zakaria Makada
Checked & Approved:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)