#832: Ruling on the number of days for Post-Natal Bleeding (Nifās) and what exceeds it
831. QUESTION:
“Assalaamu alaykum, how long should bleeding afterbirth considered as postnatal bleeding?”
ANSWER:
Wa Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh, Alhamdulillāh.
Know, may Allāh illumine your heart, that the majority of the Fuqahā hold that most women experience a period of post Natal bleeding (Nifās) for forty days. Ibn Qudāmah Al-Maqdisī said: “The majority of post Natal bleeding is forty days. This is the statement of most of the People of Ilm. And Abū ‘Īsah At-Tirmidhī said: the People of Ilm right from the Sahābah of the Rasūl -salallāhu alayhi wasallam – and those who came after them have consensed that breast feeding mothers who are bleeding should refrain from Salāt for forty days unless if she sees purity before that in which case she should observe the Ghusl and observe Salāt.”
Shaykhu Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimahullāh mentioned that the 60 days period mentioned by some of the Fuqahā was not preceded by any of the Sahābah, this is because the official position in the Mālikī and Shāfi’ī Schools is that the maximum period for Nifās is sixty days.
Bashshār Al-Mālikī mentioned in As’halu Al-Masālik:
ثم النفاس الدم للولادة
أكثره ستون لا زيادة
“And then An-Nifās is the blood that follows Childbirth
Its maximum period is sixty, not more”
This is because this was one of the positions held by Mālik on this matter. Though he later changed his position and maintained that women should be consulted about it’s maximum period.
That it is sixty days maximum is also the position of Ash-Shāfi’ī, Ibn Raslān said in Safwatu Az-Zubad:
أدنى النفاس لحظة، ستونا
أقصاه، والغالب أربعونا
“The minimum period of Nifās is a moment, sixty days is it’s maximum, and majority is forty days”
Therefore the Mālikī and Shāfi’ī position is that it is sixty days.
Whereas, the Hanafī and Hanbalī position is that it is forty days. That it is forty days is also the position held by Ibn ‘AbdulBarr Al-Mālikī and Ash-Shawkānī Rahimahumullāh. Their proof for this is the Hadīth of Ummu Salamah – radiyallāhu ‘anhā – where she said, as was recorded by Imām Ahmad, Abū Dāwud, At-Tirmidhī and Ibn Hibbān, and considered sound by An-Nawawī, Adh-Dhahabi, Ibn Qayyim, Ibn Al-Mulaqqan, Ibn Bāz and Al-Albānī,:
كانت النُّفَساءُ تجلِسُ على عهدِ رَسولِ الله صلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّم أربعينَ يومًا وأربعينَ ليلةً
“Post Natal Bleeding women in the era of the Messenger of Allāh – salallāhu Alayhi Wasallam – sit (refrain from Salāt) for forty days and forty nights.” Imām Abū Īsah At-Tirmidhī and Ibn ‘AbdilBarr Al-Mālikī mentioned this an Ijmā of the Sahābah,for this reason, the stronger position is forty days.
Then, if her bleeding exceeds forty days, some have held that if that period falls within her menstruation, she regards it as menstruation and keeps off the Salāt until the regular period has preceded.
I say, and Allāh knows best, there is no need to assume it is Menstruation as menstruation is known with it’s distinct features to women, If it is Menstruation, then she leaves her Salāt accordingly and abide by the Injunctions surrounding Hayd. However if that is not the case, then she assumes the bleeding to be Isti’hādah (Excessive Bleeding), in which case she washes herself up and makes Wudhū for every Salāt.
We ask Allāh to reward our women and to grant them the patience and Steadfastness to train the next generation in accordance with the Qur’ān and the Sunnah, amīn.
Bārakallāhu Fīkum
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