due to menopause, or to a temporary cause, such as illness or breastfeeding, after which menstruation returns? These, then, are “three categories.”

When menstruation ceases because of a temporary cause, such as illness or breastfeeding, she must undoubtedly wait until that cause has passed. When it ceases and she does not know why, the position of Mālik and Ahmad—as explicitly reported from him—and one opinion of al-Shāfiʿī is that she observes the waiting period prescribed for menopausal women after first waiting out the duration of pregnancy. This accords with the ruling of ʿUmar. The position of Abū Hanīfa and al-Shāfiʿī’s later opinion is that she must wait until she reaches menopausal age and then observe the waiting period prescribed for menopausal women. This causes her great harm, for she may remain unable to marry for twenty, thirty or forty years. Such hardship has been lifted from this community. Women who have reached menopause, however, observe a waiting period of three months, according to the explicit text of the Quran and the consensus of the Muslim community.

The scholars disagree, however: is there a fixed age for menopause, after which any bleeding can only be postmenopausal bleeding? Is that age fifty or sixty, or does the matter require further distinctions? They also disagree over whether menopause can be established without reference to age.

This woman has reached menopausal age according to one of the two opinions, namely fifty, and she has not menstruated for a long time. She has also stated that she took something to stop the bleeding, and bleeding can be induced by medication. She therefore has no expectation that her menstruation will return. Thus, she is among those who have reached menopause and must observe their prescribed waiting period. And Allah knows best.