How Do I Track My Menses After Switching to a Progesterone-Only Pill?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I am Hanafi. I have a question about menstruation. I used to take the combined contraceptive pill and would bleed for 4-7 days during my break, depending on the length of the break I had – ie, if I took a break of 7 days without the pill, I would bleed for 7 days, and if I took a break of 4 days, I would bleed for 4. My bleeding was very regular and predictable.
I have recently had to switch to the progesterone-only pill, which I have to take every day without a break. I have started to have very minimal daily spotting, which I only notice when I wipe. I am unsure whether to treat this as hayd or istihada – as I am spotting every day, I don’t know what I should be doing.
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 blood you are seeing is either menstruation or abnormal bleeding (istihada).
If bleeding occurs during your regular menstruation time and all other menstruation conditions are met, it is considered menses; otherwise, it is irregular bleeding (istihada).
However, knowing your menstrual and purity (tuhr) habits and spotting dates is necessary for a complete answer. Many women mistakenly believe that spotting, light, or irregular bleeding cannot be menstruation, but in the Hanafi School, rulings depend on habits, not blood qualities or heaviness. Menstrual bleeding doesn’t need to be continuous. Read this link.
[Birgivi, Dhukhr al-Muta’ahhilin wa al-Nisa’]
General Advice – Record Your Menses
A woman’s habit is her body’s usual pattern of when blood and purity are seen during the month and for how many days.
Every woman must record her menses, lochia, and purity habits. The date and time any vaginal blood begins, including the spotting of blood, and the date and time any vaginal blood ends.
[Naielah Ackbarali, The Woman’s Guide to Menstruation Rulings]
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 following two books: A translation and explanation of Imam Birgivi’s treatise “The Treasure of Families & Women” (Dhukhr al-Muta’ahhilin wa al-Nisa’) on the advanced fiqh of menstruation, lochia, and abnormal bleeding, and A Muslim Woman’s Guide to Menstruation Rulings, are two good books. They are in English and have many practical examples, life experiences, and even illustrative charts to calculate menstruation. See the links below.
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. In sha Allah, you will receive guidance and direction.
Related Answers and Links
- iud-coil-spotting-ruling-of-blood/
- istihadha Archives
- Post-Natal Bleeding (Nifas)
- Menstruation: A Comprehensive Reader – SeekersGuidance
- The Treasures of Family and Women
- A Muslim Woman’s Guide To Menstruation Rulings: Amazon.co.uk: Ackbarali, Naielah: 9781739599911: Books (Detailed Edition -Recommended book)
- myhayd.app | First Ever Islamic Period Tracking App Personalized For Muslim Women | Hayd Tuhr Istihadah Nifaas Pregnancy
- FREE Fiqh of Menstruation Video Series
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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received a traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.
