Is the woman in the postpartum period treated like a menstruating woman regarding intercourse? And is the expiation for one who has intercourse with her the same as the expiation for one who has intercourse with a menstruating woman?

The questioner : Is the woman in the postpartum period treated like a menstruating woman in terms of the prohibition of intercourse during the postpartum period? And is the expiation for intercourse with a woman during her postpartum period the same as the expiation for intercourse with her during menstruation, or do they differ?

The Shaykh : The rulings of postpartum bleeding are the same as the rulings of menstruation, as indicated by the evidence. Therefore, if a woman is in the postpartum period, it is not permissible to have intercourse with her, just as it is not permissible with a menstruating woman. The expiation is the same as the expiation for one who has intercourse with a menstruating woman. However, it is necessary to distinguish between the end of the postpartum period, its duration, or her waiting period, and her remaining in her waiting period. Many people confuse this matter. It is known that there is scholarly disagreement among the schools of jurisprudence regarding the duration of postpartum bleeding if the blood continues. The Hanafis say that the duration is forty days, and the Shafi'is say it is sixty days. The first opinion is the one that came in the Sunnah in "Sunan Abu Dawud" and elsewhere. This means that if a woman's blood continues after forty days, what comes after the forty days is irregular non-menstrual bleeding. During the forty days, she is in the postpartum period, and in this case, all the rulings that apply to a menstruating woman apply to her, namely that she does not pray, does not fast, and is not to be had intercourse with. If the forty days have passed and the blood continues, this blood is irregular non-menstrual bleeding; it does not prohibit her from praying, fasting, or having intercourse. She must pray and perform the ablution for prayer for every prayer, and it is permissible for her to combine two prayers.
As for the expiation for one who has intercourse with her during the forty days while the blood is continuing, the expiation is, as we said, the same ruling as with menstruation. However, it often happens that some women become pure before the forty days; that is, the blood stops for them. If the blood stops for her, she has become pure. The count of forty days is not a mandatory requirement for every woman in the postpartum period. Rather, the forty days were specified for blood that continues and continues without stopping, even after the forty days. As long as the blood is continuing, the forty days are the time of postpartum bleeding, and what comes after that is pure, although she is a woman with irregular non-menstrual bleeding. If she becomes pure on the tenth day, the fifteenth day, or more or less than that, she has become pure, and she owes everything that is obligatory upon her from before or from that point. Women differ in this; some have blood that continues after the forty days, and some see blood for one or two days and then become pure. But here, we must note something: the blood of postpartum bleeding is like the blood of menstruation, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described it as black, known or recognized, according to two narrations. The blood of menstruation and postpartum bleeding is black with a foul smell. The custom for menstruating and postpartum women is that when the blood comes out of them and flows in this manner, being black and foul-smelling, it then continues to become lighter in color, blackness, and foulness until it begins to turn yellow, and turns yellow, and turns yellow, and then stops in this sequence and this gradual progression. If the blood of a menstruating or postpartum woman follows this sequence and then stops, she has become pure, whether it is two days, three days, less, or more. However, if the blood stops while she is in her cycle... in its blackness with a foul smell, this is... that the woman should not be deceived and think that she has become pure; for in most cases, this blood will soon return to coming out of her. These are matters that women know, but they need to be reminded of them.
This is what we have in the answer to the question now.