What Is the Ruling on Colored Discharge before Menstruation?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Before I get my actual period, I have colored discharge a few days before, which disappears, and everything is dry again when I check it with kursuf. Sometimes it is less than three days until everything is clean and dry again. Then after 4,5 or 7 days, my menstruation comes with the actual blood.

1. Can I take this directly as Istihada for the next month, or should I wait until everything is dry and then make up all the prayers when this colored discharge stops before 72 hours are over?
2. Do I have to make up all the missed prayers within that time?
3. What does a woman do who does not remember her habit from last month?
4. What does a woman do who has forgotten her habit from last month?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

The color-changed discharge you have before your actual habitual menstruation is irregular bleeding. You are to pray, fast, recite the Quran, and perform any acts of worship.

1.

Yes, this is irregular bleeding, and you can continue to pray and do all the acts of worship as normal.

2.

If you hadn’t performed any prayer during this period, you would make up (qada) of them.

3 and 4.

You will now observe how the menstrual habit turns out and how many days, beginning after 15 days of purity (tuhr).

Advice

I advise keeping in contact with a local reliable female scholar who is well-versed in menstruation matters. Also, try to attend any on-the-ground and online courses on menstruation. Also, at your first instance, buy books related to the topic; some are in the link below.

It is a personal obligation (fard) for every adult woman to learn the basic rules of menstruation and to ask, as you’ve done, in the case of a complicated or unique situation). The books, Woman’s Guide to Menstruation Rulings by Naielah Ackbarali and Coming of Age by Ustadha Hedaya Hartford are very accessible books to learn these rulings. They are in English and have many practical examples, life experiences, and even illustrative charts to calculate menstruation.

Also, you can download a first-ever menstruation period tracking app which is personalized for Muslim women to understand menses, purity, irregular bleeding, lochia, etc., at first glance! Get The app is in harmony with religious scholarship.

Related:

• How To Determine Periods With Dysfunctional Bleeding.
• How Can I Figure Out My Regular Period as I have Irregular Vaginal Bleeding?
• Menstruation: A Comprehensive Reader – SeekersGuidance
• Myhayd.app | First Ever Islamic Period Tracking App Personalized For Muslim Women | Hayd Tuhr Istihadah Nifaas Pregnancy

Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance?

I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[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 the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught 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 interest is a love of books and gardening.