Menstruation
*Menstruation: It is a natural blood flow from the womb of the woman at specific times.
It is prohibited for a menstruating woman either to perform prayer or observe fasting. In addition, it is prohibited for her husband to have sexual intercourse with her. However, it is permissible for husband of the menstruating woman to enjoy her i.e. by kissing, touching and the like, except for having sexual course with her.
Once the menstrual blood stops discharging, a woman becomes pure and her menstrual period is deemed over. She must then take a ritual bath, after which she is allowed to do whatever acts of worship which were prohibited for her during menstruation. After blood stops discharging, woman does not have to be concerned about any secretion or yellowish discharging. Furthermore, she is obliged to make up for the missed days of fasting, without making up for the prayers she has missed.
The end of the period (becoming pure) can be known by the emission of the white discharge which the womb pushes at the end of the period or dryness in the place and cessation of bleeding.
Postnatal bleeding: It is the blood flows from the vagina of the woman due to giving birth; after and before it along with labor pains.
If woman sees blood before the child is born, not accompanied by the signs of giving birth such as pains, then this is not Nifaas.
The ruling on a woman in a state of postnatal bleeding is like that of the menstruating one. The maximum period of postnatal bleeding is forty days. So if the bleeding of a woman in a state of postnatal bleeding stops before the fortieth day, the period of postnatal bleeding ends, and she must have a ritual bath, perform prayer, and practice all acts of worship that have been prohibited for her during her postnatal bleeding period.
If a pregnant woman miscarries and starts discharging, and the stillborn has reached a distinctively recognizable form, she is considered a woman is a state of postnatal bleeding. An embryo takes about eighty-one days to three months in order to have a distinctively recognizable shape. If the embryo is a mere lump of flesh or a clinging clot (without a distinctively recognizable form), the woman is not considered in a state of postnatal bleeding, and none of the rulings on postnatal bleeding is applicable in this case.
