Haidh

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

“In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”

What is Haidh?

Haidh is the arabic term used for the blood which exists the vagina every month. (Menstruation / Periods).

Rulings regrading Haidh

Ruling No.1: A girl does not get haidh (menstruation) before the age of 9 lunar years. (8 solar years, 8 months & 8 weeks). Therefore anything she sees before this will be istihadah (irregular bleeding).

Question: If a girl sees blood before the age of 9 lunar years, will she stop praying salaah during the bleeding?

Answer: No, she will continue praying.

Ruling No.2:Anything a woman sees after the age of 55, will only be haidh (menstruation) if it is extremely red or black. If she sees green, yellow or brown, it will not be haidh, rather it will be regarded as istihadah (irregular bleeding). However, if the flowing of green, yellow, or brown was her habit before the age of 55, only then it will be regarded as haidh.

Question: 57 year old Jamila is experiencing unusual brown discharge which she has never experienced before. What will this bleeding be classed as? What is the ruling regarding her salaah?

Answer: The bleeding will be classed as Istihadah. She will continue praying salaah

Ruling No.3: A girl is said to be mature if she experiences any of the following:

1. The monthly menstruation after the age of nine years.

2. She has a wet dream in which she ejaculates.
3. She becomes pregnant.

If none of the above take place, then when a girl reaches the age of 14 years and seven months, the equivalent of 15 lunar years, she will be regarded as having reached the age of puberty.

On reaching the age of puberty, all of the injunctions regarding prayer, fasting, etc. will become obligatory on her. She will now be responsible for her actions.

Ruling No.4: The minimum period for Haidh is 3 days & nights (72 hours).

Ruling No.5: The maximum period for Haidh is 10 days & nights (240 hours).

Question: Fatima started bleeding on Monday at 9AM. She stopped bleeding on Saturday at 9AM. How long was her Haidh ?

Answer: 5 days & nights.

Question: Mariya started bleeding on Wednesday at 11AM. Her bleeding stopped on Sunday at 11AM. How long was her Haidh ?

Answer: 4 days & nights.

Ruling No: If blood flows for less than 3 days & nights, then it will not be regarded as haidh. It will be regarded as istihadah (irregular bleeding).

Question: Mariyam started bleeding on Wednesday at 1pm. She stopped bleeding on Friday at 10pm. She did not see any other bleeding for the next few weeks. What will her bleeding be classed as & why? What will be the ruling regarding her salaah?

Answer: The bleeding will be classed as Istihadah because she only bled for 2 days. She will have to make up for the salaah missed during those days.

Ruling No: If blood flows for 3 days & not 3 nights then too it will be regarded as istihadah (irregular bleeding).

Question: Salma started bleeding on Tuesday at 6pm. She stopped bleeding on Friday at 6am. How many hours has she been bleeding ? What will her bleeding be regarded as & why?

Answer: Istihadah. Because she bled for 3 days & not 3 nights.

Ruling No: The bleeding beyond 10 days & nights will also be regarded as istihadah (irregular bleeding).

Question: Aaminah is still bleeding after 10 days & nights. Should she continue not praying or take a ghusl & start praying?

Answer: She should take a ghusl & start praying salaah.

Ruling No: If a girl sees blood for the first time and she sees it for less than 3 days. Then she remains clean for 15 days. Then she sees blood for less than 3 days. Both the bleedings will be istihadah & not haidh.

Note: On seeing blood less than 3 days she will make wudhu and start praying salaah & she will make qadha of the salaah missed whilst she was bleeding.

Ruling No: If a girl sees blood for the first time, then if she bleeds for 10 days (240 hours) or less, it will all be regarded as haidh. If she bleeds for more than 10 days (more than 240 hours), then 10 days (240 hours) will be haidh & the remaining days will be istihaadah (irregular bleeding). Upon the completion of 10 days (240

Ruling No: The ruling of Haidh will apply from the time the blood exits the outer vagina (labia minora). If it is felt inside and is not seen on the sanitary towel she will remain pure until the blood exits the labia minora.

In short when you note your start date & time you will note the time you saw the blood.

Ruling No: A girl sees blood for the first time and she continues bleeding for several months. From the day that she started to bleed, till ten days and ten nights (240 hours) will be regarded as haidh. Thereafter, the next twenty days (480 hours) will be istihaadah. In this way, she will continue regarding ten days as haidh and twenty days as istihaadah. (10:20- 10 days haidh, 20 days tuhoor).

Ruling No: If a girl sees blood for the first time and she sees it for less than 3 days. Then she remains clean for 15 days. Then she sees blood for less than 3 days. Both the bleedings will be istihadah (irregular bleeding).

Note: On seeing blood less than 3 days she will make wudhu and start praying salaah. She will also make qadha of the salaah missed whilst she was bleeding.

Ruling No: When a beginner sees blood, she will stop praying salaah. If the bleeding continues till 3 days this will be haidh. After this whenever she stops before 10 days she will make ghusl and start praying salaah. Whatever she has bled will now be considered her habit.

Ie: she saw 7 days of blood and remained clean for 23 days. Her habit will now be 7:23.

If anytime it is different to this. Ie: she saw 9 days blood and 21 days purity. This will be considered as her habit has changed.

Note: For every future bleeding the very last habit will be considered. A lot of rulings depend on this habit. Therefore everyone should log their dates & timesdown.

Ie:

• Start date & time
• Finish date & time.
• Days bled
• Days of purity etc.

Question: Hannah’s bleeding is as follows:

Jan- 5 days

Feb 5 days

March 5 days

April 8 days.

How many days will be haidh in April & why?

Answer: 8 days as it is still under 10 days. Her habit has just changed.

Ruling No: If a clean woman placed a sanitary towel in the night and saw blood on it in the morning the ruling of haidh will apply from when she sees the blood (in the morning).

Question: Safiyyah put a panty liner on at 11PM When she woke up for fajr at 5AM, it was stained with blood. At what time will she class as the beginning of her period?

Answer: 5AM

Ruling No: The wet colour on the sanitary towel will be considered. I.e. If when the discharge is wet it is red and then becomes white when it dries up, then this will be considered Haidh. And if when the discharge is wet it is white and then turns yellow once dry, then it will not be considered as Haidh.

Ruling No: If a menstruating woman placed a sanitary towel and does not see any blood on it, she will be classed as clean from the time she has placed the sanitary towel.

Question: Towards the end of her period, Rawha placed a clean pad at 2pm. At 7pm she saw that her pad was still completely clean. What should she do? What time will she class as the end of her period? What about the salaah she missed between 2-7PM?

Answer: She will now take a ghusl. She will class 2PM as the end of her period & she will have to make up for any salaah she missed during those hours.

Ruling No: Whatever a woman may see during the period of haidh other than white (regardless of the amount), whether red, green, yellow, or black, it will all be regarded as haidh (menstruation).

Ruling No: Towards the end of one’s menstruation, one should check their sanitary towel every salaah time, so that they can come to know if their haidh ended & which salaah they need to perform.

Ruling No: The bleeding does not have to be continuous. One can bleed and then it may stop for a day or two in between and come again. In Shariah it is all considered as continuous bleeding. As long as the bleeding is within 10 days & nights (240 hours), it will all be regarded as haidh.

Question: Nasreen started bleeding on the 21st of October 7pm till the 25th of October 10am. She then saw nothing till the 27th of October. She bled again on the 28th – 29th of October 10pm. How long is her haidh?

Answer: 8 days & 3 hours

Ruling No: If a woman has no fixed period. At times she bleeds for four days, at times for seven days and at times for ten days. All of this will be regarded as haidh, as long as her bleeding does not exceed 10 days & nights (240 hours).

Ruling No: If at a certain time a woman bleeds for more than ten days & ten nights, she will check the number of days she bled for the previous month (the very last bleeding). That same number of days will be regarded as her habit & will be her haidh (for this month) and the balance will be istihaadah (irregular bleeding).

Question: Taahirah’s bleeding is as follows: March – 9 days April- 7 days May- 10 days June – 8 days This month her bleeding has exceeded over 10 days to 13 days. How many days will be haidh & how many days will be istihadah?

Answer: 8 days will be haidh & the remaining days up to date 13 will be istihadah.

Ruling No: If a woman sees blood for 3 days or more. Then stayed clean for 15 days or more. Then she saw blood for less than 3 days. Her first bleeding will be classed as haidh & her second bleeding will be classed as istihadah if she remains clean for 15 days or more after it.

Question: Faaiza bled from the 1st of January till the 6th of January. She then bled again on the 2nd of February till the 4th of February. The following month she bled on the 1st of March till the 8th of March. What will the bleedings in January, February & March be classed as?

Answer: January = Haidh, February = Istihadah & March =Haidh

Ruling No: If a woman bled less than her habit ie: her habit is 7 days and she stopped bleeding after 5 days. She will make ghusl before the ending time of the mustahab (recommended) time of that salaah time in which she stopped bleeding in and start praying salaah. 

If she starts bleeding again and stopped at the completion of 10 days (240 hours) all this bleeding will be haidh. (Ie: bled again on the 8th-9th & 10th day.) 

However if she continues bleeding after 10 days then her haidh will be her habit (7 days) and the rest will be istihadah. 

For e.g. she bled again from the 8th day till the 12th day then she will take ghusl upon completion of 10 days and make qadha of all the salaah she missed after 7 days.

Ruling No: If a woman stops bleeding after one or two days, it is not waajib (compulsory)  on her to have a bath. She can perform wudhu and offer her salaah but intercourse is not permissible. If she starts to bleed again before fifteen days, it will  be classed as a continuous bleeding and it will now be established that those days were the days of haidh. According to her previous habit, whichever days were of haidh should be regarded as haidh. Now she will have to have a bath and offer her salaah. However, if fifteen days pass and she did not bleed, it will now be established that those one or two days were of istihaadah. Since she did not read her salaah for that one or two days on account of bleeding, she will now have to make qadha of those missed salaahs.

Question: Aaliyah usually bleeds for 6 days. However this month she saw blood on the 3rd of march 2pm until 5th of march 2pm. She then saw nothing. She then bled again on the 14th & 15th of march. What will be the ruling regarding this?

Answer: As she bled again within 15 days, it will be regarded as a continuous bleeding, therefore  she will look back at her previous month’s habit. Hence 6 days will be haidh & the remaining days istihadah. Therefore the bleeding she saw on the 15th & 14th will be istihaadah.

Ruling No: Once blood flows into the external skin of the vagina, haidh commences. This is irrespective of whether it flows out of the skin or not. So if some cotton wool or something similar is inserted into the vagina whereby the blood cannot flow out, then as long as the blood remains in the vagina and no spot of blood comes onto the cotton wool that is outside of the vagina, then until then we cannot say that haidh has commenced. When a spot of blood comes onto the external skin of the vagina or if the cotton wool which was inserted is removed; then haidh will be calculated from that time (seen outside vagina / when cotton wool / tampon was removed).

Ruling No: If a  woman who was not on her haidh inserted a tampon in the internal vagina at night and then in  the morning, she saw a spot of blood on the tampon, then haidh will be calculated from the time that she saw the spot of blood.

Ruling No: It is makhrooh (disliked) for a woman to insert a tampon or anything else inside her vagina.