What is the ruling on having intercourse with a woman during post-natal bleeding? And what is the duration of post-natal bleeding? And what is the ruling on the one who does that?

The questioner : A woman asks, or a man says: What is the ruling on having intercourse with a woman during post-natal bleeding? And what is the duration of post-natal bleeding? And what is the ruling on the one who does that?

The Shaykh : Having intercourse with a woman during post-natal bleeding is forbidden, just as it is during menstruation, due to the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . As for the duration of post-natal bleeding, it varies. Some women have post-natal bleeding for twenty days, and some for less than that. Indeed, some remain for five days and then become pure. And some exceed forty days, up to sixty. So women differ. As for the one who does that, he must repent to Allah for what he did and not return to it. And Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has provided for him means to remove desire other than intercourse. He can, for example, have intercourse between the thighs. And he can, for example, commit the secret habit with his hand, meaning with his wife. So, praise be to Allah, there is a solution for him. As for having intercourse with her while she is in post-natal bleeding, that is forbidden. But if she becomes pure before forty days, is it permissible for him to have intercourse with her? The answer is: Yes, because if prayer becomes permissible, then intercourse becomes permissible a fortiori. As for what is narrated from some of the Salaf: that his wife came to him and had become pure before forty days, so he left her. That is his opinion. But the correct view, in which there is no doubt, is that if prayer becomes permissible for a wife, then it is permissible for her husband to have intercourse with her.