Women’s rulings: menstruation, istihadah and nifas

Clear answers for Muslim women from the Quran and the authentic Sunnah, with the evidence for every ruling. Menstruation is something Allah has written for the daughters of Adam (al-Bukhari 294), so there is no shame in learning its rulings.

1. Menstruation (hayd)

Hayd is the natural blood that comes from the womb at regular times. Allah says: “They ask you about menstruation. Say: it is a harm, so keep away from women during menstruation and do not approach them until they are pure” (al-Baqarah 2:222).

How many days? The Quran and Sunnah do not fix a minimum or maximum. Many scholars, including Shaykh Ibn Baz, took fifteen days as the longest a period can last; Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin said a woman follows what is normal for her. So a woman goes by her own habit (‘adah): if her period is usually six or seven days, those are her days of hayd.

2. What is not allowed during menstruation

• Prayer (salah). She does not pray, and she does not make up the prayers later. Fasting. She does not fast, but she makes up the missed days of Ramadan. ‘A’ishah said: “We were commanded to make up the fasts, and we were not commanded to make up the prayers” (Muslim 335).
• Intercourse with her husband until the bleeding stops and she has done ghusl (al-Baqarah 2:222).
• Tawaf around the Ka‘bah. The Prophet ﷺ told ‘A’ishah: “Do everything the pilgrim does, except tawaf of the House until you are pure” (al-Bukhari 305).
• Staying in the masjid. According to the Permanent Committee and many scholars she does not sit in the masjid, but she may pass through it to take something (Muslim 298).
• Touching the Mushaf directly. The Permanent Committee and Shaykh Ibn Baz said she may recite from memory, or hold the Mushaf with gloves or a cloth, especially a teacher or student, but she does not touch it directly. Reading from a phone screen is allowed.
• Divorce during menstruation is forbidden for the husband (al-Bukhari 5251).

3. What is allowed

• Dhikr, dua, istighfar, sending blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, the morning and evening adhkar, and listening to the Quran.
• Reciting the Quran from memory, according to Shaykh Ibn Baz and Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin, because there is no authentic text that forbids it, especially when she fears forgetting it or is teaching or studying.
• Being close to her husband in everything except intercourse. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Do everything except intercourse” (Muslim 302).
• Cooking, eating and touching others. She is not impure: the Prophet ﷺ said to ‘A’ishah, “Your menstruation is not in your hand” (Muslim 298).
• Going out for the Eid gathering, staying away from the place of prayer itself (al-Bukhari 324).

4. How do I know my period has ended?

There are two signs: (1) the white discharge (al-qassah al-bayda’) that comes at the end of the period, or (2) complete dryness, when a piece of cotton comes out clean. Women used to send ‘A’ishah cotton with yellowness on it, and she would say: “Do not hurry until you see the white discharge” (al-Bukhari, chapter on the coming and going of menstruation). Once you see one of these signs, do ghusl and start praying.

Brown or yellow discharge: Umm ‘Atiyyah said: “We did not count brownish or yellowish discharge after purity as anything” (al-Bukhari 326; Abu Dawud 307). If it comes during or joined to the days of the period, it is part of the period; if it comes after purity, it is not hayd: she prays and fasts, and she does wudu for each prayer.

5. Prayers when the period starts or ends

• The period ends while a prayer’s time remains: she does ghusl and prays that prayer. Shaykh Ibn Baz and the Permanent Committee said, following the fatwa of the Companions ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf and Ibn ‘Abbas: if she becomes pure before the end of ‘Asr time she prays Dhuhr and ‘Asr, and if before Fajr she prays Maghrib and ‘Isha’.
• The period starts after a prayer’s time began and she had not yet prayed it: according to Shaykh Ibn Baz and Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin she makes up that one prayer when she becomes pure, to be on the safe side.
• Do not delay ghusl until the next prayer time if you became pure early: the prayer whose time you are in is due.

6. Irregular bleeding (istihadah)

Istihadah is bleeding outside the normal period, from a vein and not from the womb. Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh asked the Prophet ﷺ about it and he said: “That is a vein, not menstruation. When your period comes, leave the prayer; when it goes, wash the blood off and pray” (al-Bukhari 228, Muslim 333). In al-Bukhari’s narration: “Then perform wudu for every prayer.”

1. If she has a known habit (for example the first seven days of the month), those days are hayd and the rest is istihadah.
2. If she has no habit but can tell the blood apart, the dark, thick blood with a known smell is hayd (Abu Dawud 286), and the rest is istihadah.
3. If she has neither, she takes the usual period of most women, six or seven days each month, as the Prophet ﷺ told Hamnah bint Jahsh (Abu Dawud 287, at-Tirmidhi 128, hasan).

During istihadah she prays and fasts, she washes the area and uses a pad, does wudu after each prayer time begins, and her husband may be with her, according to the majority of scholars.

7. Post-natal bleeding (nifas)

• Nifas is the blood after childbirth. Its rulings are the same as hayd: no prayer, no fasting (made up later), no intercourse and no tawaf.
• Its longest period is forty days. Umm Salamah said: “The women in nifas used to sit for forty days at the time of the Prophet ﷺ” (Abu Dawud 311, at-Tirmidhi 139, hasan).
• If the bleeding stops before forty days, even after a few days, she does ghusl, prays and fasts; there is no minimum.
• If it continues after forty days, she does ghusl and prays, unless it is the time of her usual period.
• Miscarriage: if the baby already showed human form (usually after about 80 days of pregnancy), the bleeding is nifas; if not, it is istihadah and she prays and fasts (the Permanent Committee and Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymin).

8. Ghusl after the period

The ghusl after menstruation is like the ghusl after janabah. The Prophet ﷺ told Asma’: rub the head well so the water reaches the roots of the hair, then pour water over the body, and take a piece of perfumed cotton and clean the traces of blood with it (Muslim 332). A woman does not need to undo her braids for the ghusl of janabah (Muslim 330); for the ghusl after menstruation many scholars recommend undoing them, but it is not obligatory if the water reaches the roots.

9. Ramadan, Hajj and Umrah

• Make up the missed fasts of Ramadan before the next Ramadan. ‘A’ishah used to make them up in Sha‘ban (al-Bukhari 1950). Count them with the period tracker.
• If the period ends before Fajr, she fasts that day even if she does ghusl after Fajr. If it starts even a moment before Maghrib, that day’s fast is not valid and is made up.
• A pregnant or breastfeeding woman who fears for herself or her baby may leave the fast and make it up later (the Permanent Committee).
• A woman in Hajj or Umrah who gets her period does everything except tawaf (and the two rak‘ahs after it). She enters ihram, stays at ‘Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina, stones the jamarat and makes dua, then does tawaf after ghusl when she is pure. If her period comes after tawaf al-ifadah, she is excused from the farewell tawaf (al-Bukhari 1755).
• Using pills to delay the period for Hajj or Ramadan is allowed if a doctor confirms there is no harm, according to Shaykh Ibn Baz; leaving nature as it is is better in Ramadan.

This guide follows the Quran and authentic Sunnah as explained by the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, including Shaykh Ibn Baz, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen and the Permanent Committee in Saudi Arabia. For questions about your own situation, ask a trusted scholar. Found a mistake? Tell us.

More guides

• How to pray (salah)
• Wudu (ablution)
• Ghusl
• Tayammum
• How to perform Umrah
• How to perform Hajj
• Women’s rulings: menstruation and more
• Islamic masail
• New Muslims