Haydh Part 1

Menstrual discharge (Haydh) is a kind of blood which is normally discharged every month from the womb of women for a few days. When menses is discharged the woman is called 'Haaedh'. 

- Menses is usually thick and warm and its colour is either black or red. It is discharged with a pressure and a little irritation. 

- The blood seen by women after the age of 60 years is not classified as Haydh. And as per recommended precaution, women who are not from the clan of Quraish, if they see blood between the age of 50 and 60 years, having the same signs as those of Haydh, they should combine the 'dos' of mustahadha and 'don'ts' of Haaez. 

- Blood seen by a girl who has not yet completed 9 years of her age will not be considered as Haydh. 

- It is quite possible for a pregnant woman or a breast feeding mother to see Haydh and the rules which apply to a non-pregnant woman also apply to a pregnant one, except that if a woman who has conceived sees blood with the usual signs of Haydh 20 days after the commencement of her habitual period then it is necessary for her, on the basis of precaution, to refrain from the acts which are forbidden to a haaez and to perform the obligations of a mustahadha. 

- If a girl does not know whether she has completed nine years of age or not and if she sees blood which does not bear any sign of Haydh, then that blood is definitely not Haydh. And if it has some semblance of Haydh, even then it is difficult to classify it as Haydh, unless one is absolutely sure. This absolute certitude will determine that she has completed her nine years. 

- If a woman who is doubtful as to whether or not, she has completed 60 years of age, sees blood which she cannot decide whether it is of Haydh or not she should deem that she has not completed 60 years. 

- The period of Haydh is not less than 3 days and not more than 10 days and if the period during which blood is discharged is less than 3 days even by a small measure of time, that blood will not be considered as Haydh. 

- The blood of Haydh flows continuously for the first 3 days. Therefore, if blood is seen for 2 days and then interrupted for 1 day and then seen again for 1 day, it will not be Haydh. 

- In the initial stage, it is necessary that blood flows out, but it is not necessary to be seen flowing out during all the three days. It is sufficient for the blood to be internally present. So, if a woman is clean for a brief period during the first 3 days (as is common among all or some women) even then the blood discharged will be Haydh. 

- It is not necessary that a woman should have bleeding on the 1st and the 4th night, but it is essential that bleeding should not discontinue on the 2nd and the 3rd night. For example, if bleeding commences on the morning of the 1st day and continues till sunset on the 3rd day, it would be considered as Haydh. Similarly, if blood is seen from the middle of the 1st day and stops at the same time on the 4th day the same will apply. 

- If a woman sees blood continuously for three days, and then it stops for a brief period before it is seen again, and if the total number of days in which blood was seen and in which it stopped does not exceed ten, then the days in which blood flowed will be counted as of Haydh, and the in between period of respite will be of obligatory precaution, during which she will do all that she should do when she is clean, and also refrain from all those acts which are forbidden to the Haaez. 

- If blood is seen for more than three days and less than ten days and she does not know whether the blood is of a sore or a wound or of Haydh, she should not treat it as Haydh. 

- If a woman sees blood about which she is unable to discern as to whether it is the blood of wound or of Haydh, she should continue to perform her acts of worship, except when her preceding condition was that of Haydh. 

- If a woman doubts whether the blood she has seen is of Haydh or Istihadha, she should treat it to be Haydh if it bears the description of Haydh. 

- If a woman is unable to decide whether the blood she has seen is of Haydh or of virginity, she should examine herself i.e. she should insert cotton in herself and wait for some time. If she finds that only its sides have been stained with blood then it is virginal blood, and if the blood has soaked the entire piece of cotton then it is Haydh. 

- If blood is seen for less than 3 days and then stops and starts again for 3 days the second blood will be Haydh but the first blood will not be considered as Haydh even if it was seen during the her usual days of Haydh. 

Rules for the Haeez

- Acts which are Haraam for a woman who is in the state of Haydh are:

* Prayers and other similar acts of worship for which Wudhu or tayammum or Ghusl is necessary. However, there is no harm in her performing those acts of worship for which Wudhu, tayammum or Ghusl are not obligatory (e.g. Prayer-e-Mayyit). 

* All those acts which are forbidden to a junub (see rules concerning Janabat).

* Having sexual intercourse; it is Haraam for man as well as for woman even if only the penis glans may penetrate, and even if semen may not be discharged. In fact, the obligatory precaution is that the male should refrain from insertion even to an extent lesser than the point of circumcision. Based on the obligatory precaution, anal intercourse with the wife is forbidden regardless of whether she is in Haydh or not without her permission. 

- Sexual intercourse is Haraam also when a woman may not be very certain of being in the state of Haydh, but Shariah guides her to treat herself as such. So, when a woman sees blood for more than ten days, and, as will be explained later, she has to resort to the usual days of her relatives for determining the period of Haydh, her husband will not be permitted to have sexual relations with her during those days. 

- If a man has sexual intercourse with his wife when she is a Haaez, he should seek Divine forgiveness and the recommended precaution is that he should expiate by giving Kaffara. Rules regarding Kaffara will be mentioned later. 

- With the exception of actual sexual intercourse with a Haaez woman, there is no harm in all other forms of courting, wooing and kissing etc. 

- Kaffara for sexual intercourse with a Haaez is gold coins weighing 3.457 grams if carried out in the early days, 1.729 grams for the middle days and 0.865 grams for the final days of the period of Haydh. For example, if Haydh lasts for 6 days and her husband has sexual intercourse with her during the 1st and 2nd days or nights, he should pay gold weighing 3.457 grams, and during the 3rd and 4th days and nights he should pay gold weighing 1.729 grams and for the 5th and 6th days and nights he should pay gold weighing 0.865 grams. 

- If it is not possible to pay in gold coins, he should pay its equivalent value. And if the price of gold has undergone a change at the time he wishes to pay the Kaffara to the poor, as compared with the time when he had sexual intercourse, he should pay at the prevailing rate. 

- If a man has sexual intercourse with his wife in the first, second and third stage of Haydh he should give Kaffara for all the three, totalling 6.051 grams. 

- If a man has had repeated sexual intercourse with a Haeez woman he should pay Kaffara for each time. 

- If a man realizes during the course of sexual intercourse that the woman has become Haaez, he should withdraw from her immediately, and if he does not do so the recommended precaution is that he should pay Kaffara. 

- If a man commits fornication with a Haaez woman or has sexual intercourse with a Haaez woman who is not his 'mahram' under the impression that she is his wife, the recommended precaution in this case, too, is that he should pay Kaffara. 

- If a man has sexual intercourse with a Haaez woman on account of ignorance or because of having forgotten the rule, he need not pay Kaffara. 

- If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman with the belief that she is Haaez, but it transpires later that she was not Haaez, he need not pay Kaffara. 

- As will be explained in the rule relating to divorce, if a woman is divorced while she is in the state of Haydh, the divorce is void. 

- If a woman says that she is Haaez, or claims to have become clean from Haydh, her statement should be accepted, provided that she is not known to be unreliable. 

- If a woman becomes Haaez while she is in Prayer, her Prayer will become void. 

- If a woman has doubt while offering prayers whether or not she has become Haaez, her prayer is in order. However, if she realizes after offering prayers that she had actually become Haaez during the prayers, her prayers will be void. 

- After a woman becomes clean from Haydh it is obligatory for her to take bath for the prayers and other acts of worship which require Wudhu or Ghusl or tayammum. The rules for this Ghusl are the same as for the Ghusl of Janabat. And it is better that before Ghusl she should perform Wudhu. 

- After a woman has become clean from Haydh, and before having done Ghusl the divorce given to her will be in order, and her husband can also have sexual intercourse with her. Though it is better to have sexual intercourse after the woman has washed herself.

However, the recommended precaution is that the man should avoid having sexual intercourse with her before she has done Ghusl. However, until she has had Ghusl, other acts like staying in a Masjid and touching the writing of the Qur'an which were Haraam for her at the time of Haydh do not become Halal for her. 

- If the woman does not have sufficient water for Wudhu and Ghusl, and if it is just enough for Ghusl only, she should do Ghusl, and it is better that she should perform tayammum in place of Wudhu. And if the water is sufficient for performing Wudhu only, she should perform Wudhu and perform tayammum instead of Ghusl.

And if she does not have water for either of them (i.e. for Ghusl or Wudhu) she should perform tayammum for Ghusl only. It is recommended that she does one more tayammum instead of Wudhu also. 

- There is no Qadha for the Prayer which she left during her Haydh, but she should give Qadha for the obligatory fasts missed by her due to Haydh. This includes even those fasts which had been Wajib upon her on the fixed days because of Nadhr, but she could not keep because of Haydh. 

- If the time for prayers sets in and a woman knows, or considers it probable, that if she delays offering prayers she will become Haaez, she should offer prayers immediately. 

- If a woman delays offering prayers on exact time, allowing a lapse equal to the time required for offering one Prayer together with Wudhu or tayammum, and then she becomes Haaez, she will have to give Qadha for that Prayer. And in calculating the time, the extraneous things like praying quickly or slowly and other matters have to be considered individually.

For example, if a woman who is not a traveller delays her Prayer of Zuhr, the Qadha will be obligatory for her if time equal to performing four rak'ats of prayers along with Wudhu or tayammum passes away from the exact time of Zuhr and then she becomes Haaez. And for one who is a traveller the passage of time equal to performing two rak'ats along with Wudhu or tayammum is sufficient. 

- If a woman is clean from Haydh when the time for prayers is nearing its end, and has at her disposal time which suffices for Ghusl and performing one rak'at or more, she should offer the prayers and if she fails to do so she should offer its Qadha. 

- If a Haaez finds that she does not have sufficient time for Ghusl, but she can offer prayers within the prescribed time after performing tayammum, the obligatory precaution is that she should offer that prayer with tayammum, and even if she did not offer that prayer it will be obligatory for her to offer its Qadha. 

Again, if tayammum is incumbent upon her due to other reasons, like, if water is harmful for her, she should perform tayammum and offer that prayer, and if she does not offer it, she will have to give its Qadha. 

- If after becoming Clean from Haydh, a woman doubts whether or not she has time left for the prayers, she should offer the prayers. 

- If after becoming Clean from Haydh a woman does not offer prayers under the impression that she does not have time to make necessary preparations for prayers and to offer even one rak'at, but understands later that she did have time for the purpose, she should offer Qadha. 

- It is Mustahab for a Haaez that when it is time for Prayer, she makes herself clean by washing away blood, and changing the pad. Then she should make Wudhu or tayammum, whichever is applicable, and sit at the place meant for prayers facing Qibla and busy herself in recital, supplication and salutations (Salawat). 

- It is Makrooh for a haaez to read the holy Qur'an, or keep it with herself, or touch with any part of her body the space between its lines. It is also Makrooh for her to dye her hair with "henna" or any other thing like it.