and among women are those who menstruate for three, four, five, or ten days each month.
- Allah the Exalted says:
“As for your women who have despaired of menstruation, if you are in doubt, their waiting period is three months; and likewise for those who have not menstruated.” [al-Talaq 65:4]
That is, their waiting period is three months. He did not say: those who are under nine or over fifty. Rather, He said: “those who have despaired of menstruation” and “those who have not menstruated.” Thus, Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, referred this matter to an intelligible ruling based on an effective cause. It is therefore necessary that this ruling be established when these intelligible, causally relevant factors are present, and cease when they are absent.
A woman who menstruates at the end of her fiftieth year and at the beginning of her fifty-first year has not despaired of menstruation. It is regular menstruation, both in its duration and in the intervals of purity between periods, with no difference between them. So who can claim that she has despaired of menstruation?!
Allah has made the end of menstruation contingent upon despair of menstruation. Completing fifty years does not bring about such despair if her customary cycle continues. It thus becomes clear that there is no evidence for setting its beginning at nine years and its end at fifty years.
The correct view, therefore, is that reliance is only upon the defining characteristics. Menstruation has been described as a harm; thus, whenever blood that constitutes a harm is present, it is menstruation.
If it is asked: Is it customary for the Quran to mention years by their specific number?
The answer is: Yes. Allah the Exalted says:
“Then, when he reaches his full strength and reaches forty years of age...” [al-Ahqaf 46:15]
Had the duration of menstruation been known by a specified number of years, Allah the Exalted would have made it clear, for defining it as fifty years is clearer than defining it by despair of menstruation.