A Case of Irregular Bleeding

I'm still quite frustrated. I know Islam is meant to be easy, but this fiqh I find mind-boggling, to the point where I can barely concentrate on prayer because of all my doubts.

Walaikum assalam,

1) if one was ignorant of proper fiqh and therefore uncertain of their previous menstrual habit, and now they have irregular bleeding (istihada), and may have really messed up... what should they do? I am really confused and don't know what to do and what not to do...

The default assumption behind all human actions is validity and soundness, until proven otherwise. [See attached answers.]

The following is based on a past e-mail:

There are two considerations:


First, exercise caution.

It is important to calmly find out:

a) what all the relevant related rulings are;

b) ask as many specific Questions as you have to (don't make assumptions!);

c) then figure out what you were doing wrong, if anything, and what the consequences are.


Second, don't have baseless misgivings.

It is essential that one not have baseless misgivings (waswasa). This usually occurs from unawareness of the sunna, as operationalized by the fuqaha, or by lack of intelligence (in one's behavior).

As such, we should take the proper means, as described above, and not go beyond them.

Our legal responsibility (taklif) is within the limits of reason: Allah Most High has informed us, "Allah does not burden souls with more than they can manage."

Once you have taken the reasonable means, the default assumption is that you are now free error. Then, we return to the important fiqh principle:

Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.

[Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa'l Nadha'ir, and Majallat al-Ahkam al-`Adiliyya]

This means that if one is certain about something, such as the validity of our worship, with this being the basic assumption for all human actions, then we will keep assuming it valid until certain that it was not. Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this.

The important fiqh principles related to this matter include:

1. Certainty is not lifted by doubt;

2. Certainty is only lifted by another certainty;

3. The default assumption about a matter is akin to certainty;

4. The default assumption about all matters is validity and soundness;

5. Mere doubts and suppositions are of no legal consequence.

As such, until you are certain that any of your prayer was invalid, you do not have any prayers to make up. One should, however, take the steps described above in 'exercising caution.'

Ibn Abidin points out that following one's misgivings (waswasa), whether about the validity of one's works or about 'how hard' we imagine the legal prescriptions of the Shariah to be, is highly blameworthy in the Shariah: it is from the Shaytan, and Allah Most High has commanded us to refuse his enticing.

The guidance of the Chosen One (Allah bless him & give him peace), whose guidance is the only guidance worth seeking, is that if one has such misgivings (after having taken the reasonable means) one should sprinkle water on one's undergarments. Then, if one has doubts, one assumes that it is from the wetness of the sprinkling.

This deen is mercy. The Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) is mercy. It is a means of mercy, success, and felicity. When one does not find this, one must be doing something wrong.

"Ask the people of remembrance when you know not," Allah tells us in the Qur'an.

This is an important final point: when in doubt, one should not make up legal rulings. Rather, one should seek reliable knowledge, either from a reliable book one is able to understand or from persons of sound traditional learning.

May Allah grant us success in doing that which He loves.

2) if one usually has some tiny specks throughout most of the month, then they notice heavier spotting, which continues into heavier bleeding, lasting for for eight days, does the beginning of the spotting count as the beginning of the period?

1. The beginning of one's menstrual period must be preceded by a proper period of purity (actual or effective), which is minimally 15 days.

2. One's menstrual period can start with any bleeding, even if only intermittent spotting or discoloration.

3. One should know one's menstrual habit, which is duration the last period one had that lasted less than 10 days.

4. If one's menstrual bleeding (or spotting) goes on beyond ten days, then: one only counts the extent of one's menstrual habit (retroactively) as having been one's period. Everything beyond that is considered irregular bleeding (istihada).

5. The ruling of such irregular bleeding (istihada) is like that of a nose bleed (as the fuqaha say): it is obligatory to pray and fast (if Ramadan) during this time. Given this, if one's

Day:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B
H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H	H? I***	H? I***	I	I

[H: menstrual blood (hayd), I: irregular bleeding

Case:

1. Habit: 8 days

2. Saw blood: 12 days.

3. Initially: continued assuming blood was menstrual (i.e. no prayer, etc.) until the full ten days passed (H? in the diagram).

4. After the ten days passed: only the days within one's menstrual habit (=8 days) are considered menstrual.

5. Therefore, one must makeup the unperformed prayers on days 9 and 10 (I*** in the diagram). Of course, there is no sin involved.

6. One starts counting one's 'effective purity' from after day 8. The next period cannot be considered to start less than 15 days from this time.

Is this clear?

3) what if one then has whitish material exit on the 8th day, and this is followed by more tiny discolored specks for more than 10 days, does that mean the period ended on the 8th day? and then the rest is istihada?

But one must continue to leave one's prayer (and fasts, if Ramadan) until the spotting goes beyond ten days, because it is very possible that it stop before the ten days are completed, in which case it would be considered a change in one's menstrual habit.

Then, we know that days 9 and 10 (in the example) were irregular bleeding (istihada). The prayers unperformed from these days

4) wudu/cleaning for istihada is always made at the end of the mustahab time or the beginning of the prayer time?

Either way, though the former is superior, because of the possibility that the bleeding may stop.

And Allah alone gives success.

There are two treatises on the Fiqh of Menstruation in the Articles section


Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani,
Amman, Jordan.