❖ Blood Spots After Menstruation and the Ruling on Worship: A Shari'ah-Based Guide
This content is taken from the book "500 Questions and Answers for Women", which is based on the fatwas of the scholars of the Haramain. The translation is by Hafiz Abdullah Saleem.
❀ Question:
After being purified from menstruation two months post-marriage, a woman began experiencing small blood spots. Should she stop fasting and abandon prayer, or what should she do?
❀ Answer:
The issues related to menstruation and marriage in women are like a vast ocean with no shore. Among the causes of these complications is the use of contraceptive pills, and many people fail to understand these complexities. It is indeed true that such confusion has existed since the time of the Prophet ﷺ, and even earlier with the very existence of women. However, due to this specific cause, the number of such cases has increased so much that people are left bewildered and helpless in their quest for solutions.
As for the matter mentioned above, the general ruling is:
When a woman becomes pure and sees clear signs of complete purification from menstruation and postnatal bleeding, and by "purity from menstruation" is meant that a white discharge (when a piece of cotton placed at the private area comes out clean), whether that whiteness is slightly yellowish, off-white, or clear, then all these discharges occurring after purity are not considered part of menstruation. These do not prevent a woman from performing prayer, fasting, or engaging in marital relations, because they are not menstrual blood.
Umm ‘Atiyyah (رضي الله عنها) said:
كنا لا نعد الصفرة والكدرة شيئا
[Ṣaḥīḥ – Sunan an-Nasā’ī, Ḥadīth No. 368]
"We did not consider the yellowish or brownish discharge to be anything (i.e., part of menstruation).”
This narration is also reported by al-Bukhārī. In Abu Dāwūd, the additional wording is: بعد الطهرة
[Ṣaḥīḥ – Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Ḥadīth No. 307]
"After attaining purity, we women would not give any importance to yellowish or brownish discharge."
Its chain of narration is authentic.
Based on this, we say that any such discharge seen after confirmed purity is not harmful for the woman. She is not prevented from offering prayer, observing fasts, or having marital relations with her husband.
However, it is obligatory upon the woman not to hasten in performing ghusl (ritual bath) until she is sure of having attained purity. Some women, upon the blood drying up, perform ghusl before observing the sign of purity.
That is why the wives of the Companions used to send cotton with blood stains to Umm al-Mu’minīn ‘Ā’ishah (رضي الله عنها), and she would say:
لا تعجلن حتى ترين القصة البيضاء
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ḥadīth No. 314]
"Do not be hasty until you see the white discharge."
(Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen رحمه الله)
