Section
Three kinds of blood emerge from the genital passage: ḥayḍ (menstruation), nifās (post-natal bleeding), and istiḥāḍa (irregular bleeding). Ḥayḍ is the blood that issues from a woman’s vagina under normal health, unrelated to childbirth; it is dark, hot, and has a pungent odor. Nifās is the blood that flows directly after delivery, while istiḥāḍa is any bleeding that occurs outside the days of ḥayḍ and nifās.

The minimum length of ḥayḍ is one day and one night; its maximum is fifteen days, and its usual span is six or seven days. The minimum for nifās is a single moment, its maximum is sixty days, and it most commonly lasts forty days. The minimum interval of ritual purity between two menstrual periods is fifteen days, with no maximum limit. A woman begins to menstruate no earlier than nine lunar years. The shortest viable pregnancy is six months, the longest is four years, and the normal term is nine months.

Menstruation and nifās make eight matters unlawful: ritual prayer, fasting, recitation of the Quran, touching the muṣḥaf, carrying it, entering a mosque, circumambulating the Kaʿba, and intercourse or any sexual enjoyment between the navel and the knees.

A person in a state of janāba (major ritual impurity) is prohibited from five things: ritual prayer, reciting the Quran, touching or carrying the muṣḥaf, circumambulating the Kaʿba, and remaining in a mosque.

For someone who merely lacks wuḍūʾ, three matters are prohibited: ritual prayer, circumambulating the Kaʿba, and touching or carrying the muṣḥaf.