Question

Due to no/limited knowledge, I did not track my period for the majority of my life so I am very confused on what is/isn’t my period. My normal discharge is often yellow, sometimes occasionally/white clear. Based on what I have researched; I have seen two possibilities for Hanafi position.

1. My regular yellow discharge is considered blood: If this is correct then I am confident in saying I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 15-day+ purity requirement (discharge being clear/white) to seperate two bleedings, although I do not remember well. Meaning I am in chronic bleeding currently and the only opinion I can find about chronic bleeding is to perform ghusl for every prayer “until a habit can be developed”. I am quite a distressed person with severe OCD and having to bathe 6 times a day is genuinely daunting. Also the last part doesn’t make sense to me as the same source/multiple others claim that a Hanafi habit is not based on what is obvious bleeding to the women like the Shafi but a sahih blood and sahih tuhr (which requires it to be between two sahih bloods, blood for only 3-10 days). For example even if I did experience 15-days of white discharge, this tuhr cannot be taken as habit as it was following invalid/chronic bleeding. I assume if I bled after those 15-days for 3-10 days, it can be taken as sahih blood. So then if I have 15-days or more of purity then also followed by sahih blood, only then can I take that tuhr as a habit? However other places just say as soon as a chronically bleeding woman with no memory of last sahih habit has 15-day or more purity followed by 3-10 days of blood, this is their new habit. Some have just recommended to take 10 day out of each month to consider my period (some say at the beginning of each month or when there is most blood). Which is it? What if I never experience 15-days or more of white discharge, what do I do?

2. My regular yellow discharge is considered pure: Like the above, because I didn’t record my period since birth, I have no clue which is my most recent sahih blood/tuhr habit. I have some loose notes from when I started learning but I don’t even know if the first period I wrote down should be taken as I may have actually been in between invalid bleeding (I probably recorded blood as it’s own bleeding even if there wasn’t at least a 15 day purity beforehand therefore connecting it to previous and making it invalid/longer). I wouldn’t know my true habit to base my invalid or valid bleedings on. Do I just guess? Do my best judgement? Based on how my periods usually are and how long they last? Or do I wait for a 15-day+ purity period and sahih blood then take that as habit (as rules apparently changed based on last habit)?

Answer

There are instances where yellow discharge is considered menstruation. However, for most women who are accustomed to seeing red, brown, or black blood as menstruation and yellow discharge during their purity days, this is not the case.

Al-Muḥīṭ al-Burhānī narrates differing opinions from Imām Zāhid al-Māturīdī regarding yellow being considered menstrual blood. These points can help form a framework to discern menstrual blood from normal vaginal secretions during purity:

• Yellow discharge is considered menstruation for a woman who does not have yellow discharge during her purity days, if it coincides with her menstruation.
• Yellow discharge seen throughout purity days and continuing into menstruation is not considered menstruation. Essentially, a woman who habitually sees yellow discharge during purity and red during menstruation will not consider yellow discharge as menstrual bleeding; her situation indicates that for her, yellow discharge is purity.
• Most jurists consider creamy white discharge as purity.

The text of the Muḥīṭ clarifies that the yellow discharge that is considered menstruation differs from the normal vaginal secretions seen during purity. If a woman normally experiences yellow discharge during her purity days and her menstruation is typically red, she will not consider yellow discharge as menstruation if it overlaps with her habit days.

It is never too late to record your menstruation and purity days. If you have continuous bleeding, a purity of less than 15 days or bleeding that does not meet the criteria of 3 to 10 days, you will use a previous valid purity and menstruation habit to determine your menstruation dates. A purity of 15 days or more without istihada and menstruation of 3 to 10 days, before and after purity, is considered a habit. If you cannot remember your habit, you must make a confident estimation based on your usual menstruation cycle and norms and use this as your habit.

If you cannot remember your habit then it is essential that you make an estimation with which you are confident, based on your usual menstruation cycle and menstruation norms and use this as your habit. If you cannot come to a conclusion and remain unsure, then submit your dates and whatever you recall to a qualified scholar to help you determine your menstruation dates. You may submit your case to our sister website https://mensesmatters.org/. Only after exhausting all efforts and being unable to determine your dates should you perform ghusl for every prayer while you are bleeding.

May Allah grant you ease and remove your difficulties.

المحيط البرهاني في الفقه النعماني (1/ 213) وكان الشيخ الإمام الزاهد الماتريدي رحمه الله مرة يقول في الصفرة إذا رأتها ابتداء في زمان الحيض: إنها حيض، فأما إذا رأتها في زمان الطهر واتصل ذلك بزمان الحيض فإنها لا تكون حيضاً، ومرة يقول: إذا اعتادت المرأة أن ترى أيام الطهر صفرة وأيام الحيض حمرة فحكم صفرتها يكون حكم الطهر حتى لو امتدت هي بها لم يحكم لها بالحيض في شيء من هذه الصفرة لأن الحال دل على أن طهرها بهذه الصفة فقيل يحتمل أنه اعتبر ذلك في صفرة يغلب على لونها البياض وحكمها حكم الطهر على قول أكثر المشايخ.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel