If post-natal bleeding continues with a woman for forty days, and her menses arrive on the thirty-ninth day, knowing that her usual period is seven days, is the day...

The questioner : He says: If post-natal bleeding continues with a woman for forty days, and her menses arrive on the thirty-ninth day, knowing that her usual period is seven days, is the sixth day after the forty days have passed considered menstrual blood or irregular non-menstrual bleeding?

The Shaykh : We say that post-natal bleeding has no minimum limit, meaning that a woman may give birth and become pure in one day, two days, five days, or more; this is possible. If she becomes pure in five days, for example, it is obligatory for her to perform the full ritual bath, it is obligatory for her to perform the ritual prayer, and it is obligatory for her to fast Ramadan if it is Ramadan. It is permissible for her husband to have intercourse with her. As for those among the scholars who dislike this, they have no evidence for it, because if prayer is permitted—and it is the greatest thing that is prohibited for a woman during post-natal bleeding and menstruation—then what is less than it is all the more permissible.
As for the maximum duration of post-natal bleeding, some scholars said its maximum is forty days. Some said its maximum is sixty days. And some said there is no limit to its maximum, except that it may become irregular non-menstrual bleeding. As for the question that was just raised, she says that her menses came to her one day before the forty days were completed. We say that as long as this is her usual period, she should wait until she becomes pure from it, then she should perform the full ritual bath and pray.