What is the minimum and maximum duration of post-natal bleeding and menstruation?

The questioner : The minimum and maximum duration of post-natal bleeding?

The Shaykh : There is no minimum or maximum limit for post-natal bleeding or menstruation; rather, the matter varies according to the differences among women and their different customs. It is what men should know before women, because men are the protectors of women, that menstrual blood has a sign, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: , and in another wording: , , meaning it has a smell. The other wording is: , meaning the distinctiveness of menstrual blood in women is known, distinguishing it from other bloods, such as blood from wounds or blood from irregular non-menstrual bleeding. So when a woman sees this black blood that is known to them, she becomes menstruating. When does she become pure? We said that menstruation has no fixed duration, whether short or long. When does she become pure, then? She becomes pure when she sees what is called in the language of the Shari'ah "the white discharge", and in common language, it is purity. The women in the era of the Salaf and the era of the Companions would come to Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), considering her first as the Mother of the Believers and second as the most knowledgeable of women regarding the rulings of Islam in general and the rulings concerning women in particular. She may have been more knowledgeable in some of these matters than many of the men among the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So when a woman would doubt her purity—whether she had entered the stage of purity after menstruation or not—Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) would order the woman to pack herself with white cotton and say: "If you do not find any trace, even if it is yellow, on this cotton, but only white, then this is purity in common language, and it is the white discharge in the language of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her)." If she sees this purity, she has become pure, whether it is an hour of the day, or a day or a night, or more or less; it is not important. This is the ruling on menstruation, and likewise the ruling on post-natal bleeding. If a woman gives birth, she has no fixed duration, except here post-natal bleeding differs from menstruation in terms of quantity. If a woman in post-natal bleeding stops bleeding and sees the white discharge as we mentioned earlier, she has become pure, no matter how short the duration was. But if the blood continues with her beyond forty days, the forty days are the days of post-natal bleeding during which she does not pray or fast. What is beyond forty days is irregular non-menstrual bleeding, so she fasts and prays and does everything that Allah the Mighty and Majestic has made permissible for her.

The questioner : Why forty? I mean, why did we link the number forty to the issue? Why wasn't it thirty or fifty, for example?

The Shaykh : This is a good question, because this is what the Sunnah says. Some women, and perhaps Umm Salama, said: "The woman in post-natal bleeding in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would stay for forty days". From here came the specification of forty. Perhaps you have taken the answer to your question.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And you as well.