—she refrains from prayer whenever she sees blood, and she prays as soon as she perceives purity, just like the beginner. One view holds that she should take a precautionary margin (istizhar) equal to the longer of her two usual lengths; another says she should base it on the shorter; a third maintains that she need not add any precautionary days at all. If the bleeding continues for more than fifteen days, she reverts to the shortest length of her habitual period. Likewise, if a woman whose days are normally fixed finds that her blood stops before those days are complete because her menses have shortened, she bathes when the blood ceases and resumes the prayer.

3 – Among them is a woman whose bleeding is continuous, exceeding fifteen days, yet she is able to distinguish between two kinds of blood: one is dark, thick, and pungent, while the other is yellow, thin, and watery. Her menstruation is the dark, dense, strong-smelling blood, and whatever comes after it is istihada (abnormal bleeding). Concerning her, Mālik said that she should rely on the difference between the two kinds of blood, not on the days on which she used to menstruate. Whether she sees the changed blood during what were formerly her days of purity or at some later time, once she recognizes it as menstrual and not istihada she leaves the prayer for the same number of nights and days on which she used to menstruate each month, without exceeding that. Another opinion says she should add three precautionary days; yet another says she should wait until the maximum length of menstruation. The first view, Allah willing, is the sounder. After that she bathes and continues to pray and fast at all times until she encounters blood that she recognizes as menstrual; when that happens she again leaves the prayer for the length of her known period.

4 – Among them is a woman whose bleeding is uninterrupted and who cannot distinguish her menstrual blood at all. She refrains from prayer for the number of days that correspond to her former habit, then bathes from the istihada blood. Nevertheless, she keeps in mind the days on which she used to menstruate: for that number of days she refrains, secures herself with a cloth, and performs the prayers. Some have said that she should adopt the number of days typical of her peers, and it has also been said