How a Woman with Irregular Bleeding Prays and Fasts
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This is a question from a woman who says: She has been suffering for nine years—meaning since her marriage—from irregular menstruation, such that she bleeds continuously without stopping, except after taking treatment. After the treatment, for a month or two, it becomes regular, then it returns to bleeding again to the point where it is difficult for her to determine the days of her regular period, which is eight days. It is known that the continuous blood is not in one state; sometimes it is heavy, sometimes light, and sometimes brownish, and this blood is mixed together—Meaning: the heavy, the light, and the brownish—Its example is: After taking the treatment, it came on her date (20/8/1415 AH) in the month of Sha'ban, and the bleeding continued until (14/10) in the month of Shawwal,Meaning: a period of fifty-four days. This blood is varied, heavy and light in the day, and brownish, and sometimes it is continuous throughout the day, and sometimes for part of the day. After that, she entered the hospital and had a cleaning procedure performed. After that, praise be to Allah, the blood stopped until the writing of this letter or this word. She had a procedure to remove cysts on the ovary,It is said: which is the cause of the irregular period, and that was before the cleaning. But even after this procedure, the period did not become regular.Question: What is the ruling on fasting the month of Ramadan?The Shaykh: Up to now, meaning?The questioner: Until now.
The Shaykh: She says: May Allah have mercy on her?The questioner: No, because she continued and took the treatment and had the cleaning, and yet it continued. But the discussion is about fasting Ramadan. She fasted the entire month of Ramadan.She says: What is the ruling on my fasting of the month of Ramadan, since I fasted it completely? And what is the ruling on the prayer?
This woman is a woman with irregular bleeding (mustahadhah).And irregular bleeding (istihadah) is: It is the continuous discharge of blood from a woman. This blood, which is the blood of irregular bleeding, comes from a vessel in the lower part of the uterus, whereas menstrual blood comes from a vessel in the upper part of the uterus—the bottom of the uterus. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the ruling for the woman with irregular bleeding that she should return to her original custom if she had one,So we say: sit for the number of days on which the menses used to come to you at its time.For example: If she used to menstruate for eight days from the beginning of the month, and then irregular bleeding occurred, we say: sit for eight days from the beginning of every month, and for the rest, take a bath, pray, and fast, and there is no blame on her. If she has no custom, or her custom is irregular, sometimes being seven days at the beginning of the month and at the end, and she does not know, then she should return to differentiation (tamyiz),And differentiation (tamyiz) means: that she looks at this blood. If it is on one consistent pattern, then she has no differentiation. If it varies, sometimes being black, thick, and foul-smelling—Meaning: having an odor—And sometimes it is red, so here we say: sit for the time of the thick, foul-smelling blood, because this is menstruation. As for the thin red blood, this is irregular bleeding.
If she says: She has no differentiation; the blood is on one consistent pattern. This is a third case for the woman with irregular bleeding.We say: Sit for six days or seven days from the beginning of every month. This woman, whom we now understand has not sat, so we ask her: What was her custom before she was afflicted with this incident?She said: My custom was six days from the beginning of the month.We say: Make up the six days of fasting in Ramadan. As for the prayer, she owes nothing, because she left the prayer under the assumption that this was menstruation, so she owes nothing.
The questioner: But she prayed.
The Shaykh: The matter of the prayer is concluded, and there is no issue with it; because if she prayed at the time we ruled that she was not menstruating, then she performed the prayer. And if she prayed at the time she was menstruating, then she prayed while ignorant, so she owes nothing.
What remains for us is fasting, so we say: Make up the number of days you used to observe before you were afflicted with this incident.
The Shaykh: She says: May Allah have mercy on her?The questioner: No, because she continued and took the treatment and had the cleaning, and yet it continued. But the discussion is about fasting Ramadan. She fasted the entire month of Ramadan.She says: What is the ruling on my fasting of the month of Ramadan, since I fasted it completely? And what is the ruling on the prayer?
This woman is a woman with irregular bleeding (mustahadhah).And irregular bleeding (istihadah) is: It is the continuous discharge of blood from a woman. This blood, which is the blood of irregular bleeding, comes from a vessel in the lower part of the uterus, whereas menstrual blood comes from a vessel in the upper part of the uterus—the bottom of the uterus. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the ruling for the woman with irregular bleeding that she should return to her original custom if she had one,So we say: sit for the number of days on which the menses used to come to you at its time.For example: If she used to menstruate for eight days from the beginning of the month, and then irregular bleeding occurred, we say: sit for eight days from the beginning of every month, and for the rest, take a bath, pray, and fast, and there is no blame on her. If she has no custom, or her custom is irregular, sometimes being seven days at the beginning of the month and at the end, and she does not know, then she should return to differentiation (tamyiz),And differentiation (tamyiz) means: that she looks at this blood. If it is on one consistent pattern, then she has no differentiation. If it varies, sometimes being black, thick, and foul-smelling—Meaning: having an odor—And sometimes it is red, so here we say: sit for the time of the thick, foul-smelling blood, because this is menstruation. As for the thin red blood, this is irregular bleeding.
If she says: She has no differentiation; the blood is on one consistent pattern. This is a third case for the woman with irregular bleeding.We say: Sit for six days or seven days from the beginning of every month. This woman, whom we now understand has not sat, so we ask her: What was her custom before she was afflicted with this incident?She said: My custom was six days from the beginning of the month.We say: Make up the six days of fasting in Ramadan. As for the prayer, she owes nothing, because she left the prayer under the assumption that this was menstruation, so she owes nothing.
The questioner: But she prayed.
The Shaykh: The matter of the prayer is concluded, and there is no issue with it; because if she prayed at the time we ruled that she was not menstruating, then she performed the prayer. And if she prayed at the time she was menstruating, then she prayed while ignorant, so she owes nothing.
What remains for us is fasting, so we say: Make up the number of days you used to observe before you were afflicted with this incident.