Menses
Notes from the lecture given by a da’iyah of Awqaaf Ministry,
at Markaz Maryam, Doha, Qatar on Janv 14, 2008
- Menstruations have been written for women, in determined days.
There is 4 types of bleeding :
1) Menses or period = Hayd حيض
2) Post-natal bleeding
3) Istihaada استحاضة : other bleedings
4) Miscarriage bleeding
When the fœtus is being shaped, Quran is relating 4 stages :
- From 1st to 40th day : drop نطفة
- From 41st to 80th day : adherence علقة
- From 81st to 120th day : something chewed مضغة
- After 120th day : Angels come down and the soul is there
When the body is already shaped, and the limbs are visible, blood after a miscarriage is considered as post-natal bleeding.Otherwise, they are considered as other bleedings.
- The fact of not fasting or not praying is in itself a ‘ibaadah, as the woman is obeying Allah’s orders.
- If menses arrive after adhan, then it is better to make the salaat up to be sure. Same when the woman is pure before adhan, then it is better to make it up. One has to first make up the missed salaah and then pray the one which time is there, except if the next adhan is close.
- Beginning of menses = continuous flow coming out of the body, without having to wipe to see it : HAYD
- End of menses = white discharge when you wipe, after blood dryness
- Post-natal bleeding lasts 40 days in theory
- If the woman notices she is clean before the 40 days, then she is pure, and has to make her Ghusl and start praying and/or fasting
- If the woman is pure, and after some time, she sees blood, it still has to be considered as post-natal bleeding if still within the 40 days
- Menses are dark, thick, have a smell and their blood does not coagulate when dropping
- Other hemorragias are red, and coagulate when dropping
- Metrorragia = more days of blood than purity
- They are tests of the heart, in case menses come 5 minutes before Maghreb, the woman has to eat and make up that day later
- All is ibaadah and test. One has to accept what happens = ‘Ibadat al qalb (worship from the heart)
- In case of metrorragia, the woman should count the normal number of days for her period as being menses, and the rest will be counted as metrorragia.
- In case a young girl had no cycles before, she has to differenciate blood, or take the usual period of her mother or sister as the basis, and count as of the first day of the Hijri month, waiting to get regular cycles
- Maximum duration for menses is 15 days, what is above should be considered as metrorragia and the woman should resume praying and fasting
- When the duration of menses changes, then the woman should pay attention to her purity
And Allah ta'ala knows best !
