How To Calculate My Light Period and Heavy Irregular Bleeding?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
My periods have started regulating recently after having irregular periods for so many months and bleeding in between periods.
This has complicated it, but I usually bleed for ten days, which is my habit. The way my cycles usually appear is a very light spotting that lasts nearly six days. After that, I get a heavier flow of my period that lasts almost eight days.
This month I started my period after a 28-day gap in this manner, and now that the bleeding has continued for even longer than ten days, I am in a state of irregular bleeding, which is quite heavy. I find it difficult praying with the heavy bleeding as well as it feels like this is my actual period, and it feels like it is hard to judge.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Your period will be based on your regular menstrual habit, which is ten days. If the bleeding continues for more than ten days, then the number of days beyond your habit is considered irregular bleeding (istihada). So you will start praying as normal from day 11 onwards. [Birgivi, Dhukhr al Muta’ahhilin]
Read the links below:
How To Determine Periods With Dysfunctional Bleeding. – SeekersGuidance
How Can I Figure Out My Regular Period as I have Irregular Vaginal Bleeding? – SeekersGuidance
Menstruation: A Comprehensive Reader – SeekersGuidance
Coming of Age by Hedaya Hartford (Recommended book)
A Muslim Woman’s Guide To Menstruation Rulings: Amazon.co.uk: Ackbarali, Naielah: 9781739599911: Books (Recommended book)
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org)
I pray this helps with your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey.
He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His personal interest is the love of books and gardening.
