Question:
A woman took medication to prevent herself from menstruating before Umrah, but since she missed the time to take it she has continued to bleed for ten days; should she consider this blood to be ‘istihādah’ and fast Ramadhān?
Answer:
If this blood appeared at the time of her menstruation and in it’s well-known form then it is menstrual blood, even if it continues for more or less than the normal duration, therefore she cannot fast or pray.
But if it appeared outside the time of her menstruation and not in it’s well-known form then it is ‘istihādah’: ‘fasād’ blood (1) due to her not completing the dosage.
Menstruation is usually seven days, but a small increase on the normal duration, such as three days, is inconsequential, so she should refrain from fasting and praying until this bleeding subsides.
If it continues after that into the next month, she should go back to her usual duration – if she has a usual duration – and then perform ghusl after it [has ended] and disregard the extra blood that comes out after that by fasting, praying and her husband engaging with her in the way clean women are engaged with.
What is correct is that there is no minimum or maximum duration of menstruation. Although, according to the Hanbali’s the maximum duration of menstruation is fifteen days, so whoever acts upon their saying should not be blamed, this saying is good.
(1.) Our Sheikh, Abū Bilāl – may Allāh preserve him said: ‘fasād blood’ and ‘istihādah’ are the same, which is [the blood] that comes out after the menstrual bleeding has ended. It may also occur outside the time of menstruation and not in the form of menstrual blood.
Answered by: Shaykh Abū Bilāl – may Allāh preserve him
Source: https://t.me/abubilalhami/8688
Answered on: 25th Ramadhān 1443 (26th April 2022)
Translated by: Abū Sufyān Sāmi ibn Daniel Al-Ghāni