--- title: "Postnatal Bleeding in Islam: Duration, Prayer and Fasting" description: "Postnatal bleeding: its length in the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools and its rulings on prayer and fasting, per Diyanet's High Board of Religious Affairs." canonical_url: "https://getvaaz.com/en/guides/worship/postnatal-bleeding-rulings" last_updated: "2026-11-01" language: "en" published: "2026-11-01" author: "VAAZ Team" source: "VAAZ — getvaaz.com" review: "automated" next_review: "2028-11-01" --- # Postnatal Bleeding in Islam: Duration, Prayer and Fasting > Prepared with AI assistance and checked against its sources automatically. No religious scholar reviewed it. [How we prepare pages](https://getvaaz.com/en/editorial-method) According to Diyanet's High Board of Religious Affairs, postnatal bleeding has no minimum length; its maximum is forty days in the Hanafi school and sixty days in the Shafi'i school ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). The Board says a woman does not pray or fast during this time ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). She does not make up the prayers she missed, but she makes up the missed fasts later ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). ## Postnatal bleeding follows childbirth, miscarriage or abortion In the Board's definition, postnatal bleeding does not begin only with childbirth. Bleeding a woman sees for a period after a miscarriage or an abortion is also postnatal bleeding ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). ## No minimum, and a maximum of forty days in the Hanafi school and sixty in the Shafi'i school According to the Board, postnatal bleeding has no minimum length ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). As the Board reports it, the maximum is forty days in the Hanafi school and sixty days in the Shafi'i school ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). The Board's answer on the length of postnatal bleeding and on worship comes down to this ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)): | Situation | According to the High Board of Religious Affairs | | --- | --- | | Minimum length | None | | Maximum, Hanafi school | Forty days | | Maximum, Shafi'i school | Sixty days | | Bleeding stops and then resumes | The days without bleeding also count as postnatal bleeding | | Blood seen after the maximum has passed | Not postnatal bleeding but condition-related bleeding | | Bleeding stops before forty days | Ghusl is performed and worship resumes | | Prayer | Not performed, and not made up later | | Fasting | Not kept, and made up later | ## How the days are counted if bleeding stops and resumes, or passes the limit Bleeding can pause for a while within the days of postnatal bleeding and then start again. According to the Board, the days in between without bleeding also count as postnatal bleeding ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). Blood seen after the maximum has passed is, according to the Board, no longer postnatal bleeding but condition-related bleeding ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). In fiqh, condition-related bleeding is bleeding that counts as neither postnatal bleeding nor menstruation. > If your situation does not fit the table above, you can take your question to a religious scholar you trust. ## A woman in postnatal bleeding does not pray or fast According to the Board, a woman does not pray or fast while postnatal bleeding lasts ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). In another answer, the Board states that praying and fasting are haram, forbidden, for a woman in menstruation or postnatal bleeding ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/kadinlar-adet-ve-lohusalik-hallerinde-oruc-tutabilirler-mi/0193c42d-73c5-7492-2991-feb663fcc9ec)). A prayer or fast performed in this state is also not valid ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/kadinlar-adet-ve-lohusalik-hallerinde-oruc-tutabilirler-mi/0193c42d-73c5-7492-2991-feb663fcc9ec)). The Board notes that the jurists, the scholars of fiqh, are in agreement on this ruling ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/kadinlar-adet-ve-lohusalik-hallerinde-oruc-tutabilirler-mi/0193c42d-73c5-7492-2991-feb663fcc9ec)). ## Prayers are not made up, fasts are To make up an act of worship (qada) is to perform it later, after its proper time has passed. According to the Board, prayers missed during postnatal bleeding are not made up later, while missed fasts are made up ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). The Board draws the same line for menstruation. It states that all schools of law agree that prayers left during menstruation are not made up, while the fasts are kept after the woman becomes pure ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/kadinlar-adet-ve-lohusalik-hallerinde-oruc-tutabilirler-mi/0193c42d-73c5-7492-2991-feb663fcc9ec)). According to the Board, the basis of this consensus (ijma, the agreement of scholars) is the hadiths of the Prophet and the practice of the Companions ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/kadinlar-adet-ve-lohusalik-hallerinde-oruc-tutabilirler-mi/0193c42d-73c5-7492-2991-feb663fcc9ec)). ## The hadith of Umm Salamah: forty days, and prayers not made up HadeethEnc includes a narration from Umm Salamah on this subject, recorded by al-Tirmidhi: > Al-Azdiyyah, viz. Mussah, reported: I performed Hajj and came to Umm Salamah and said (to her): "O mother of the believers, Samurah ibn Jundub commands women to complete the prayers abandoned during menstrual period." She said: "They should not do so. The Prophet's wives would refrain (from prayer) for forty days during postpartum bleeding, and the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) would not command them to complete the prayers abandoned during that period." HadeethEnc grades this hadith hasan, a grade that hadith scholarship treats as acceptable. According to the narration, the Prophet's wives waited forty days during postnatal bleeding and left prayer during that time ([hadeethenc.com](https://hadeethenc.com/tr/browse/hadith/10008)). The Prophet did not order them to make up the prayers they had missed in that period ([hadeethenc.com](https://hadeethenc.com/tr/browse/hadith/10008)). The commentary on HadeethEnc also addresses the reason for this ruling. It notes that menstruation recurs twelve times a year, whereas postnatal bleeding does not recur in that way ([hadeethenc.com](https://hadeethenc.com/tr/browse/hadith/10008)). The commentary states that the Lawgiver did not hold women responsible for the prayers missed during the non-recurring state of postnatal bleeding ([hadeethenc.com](https://hadeethenc.com/tr/browse/hadith/10008)). For more on how scholars assess narrations, see [Introduction to Hadith Science](https://getvaaz.com/en/blog/introduction-to-hadith-science). ## If bleeding stops before forty days, ghusl is performed Ghusl is the full ritual bath in which the whole body is washed. According to the Board, the order for a woman whose bleeding stops before forty days have passed is as follows ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)): 1. The bleeding stops before forty days are complete. 2. She performs ghusl. 3. She resumes her acts of worship. On the place of purity in worship, see the [Cleanliness Sermon](https://getvaaz.com/en/blog/cleanliness-sermon). ## When the Board considers marital relations haram, and when halal According to the Board, a woman may not have sexual relations during menstruation or postnatal bleeding, and relations with a woman in these periods are haram ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/lohusalik-suresi-ne-kadardir-bu-surede-yapilamayan/0193c42d-4c43-7518-7c50-022c48f28943)). In another answer, the Board explains when relations become halal according to the Hanafi school ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/adet-veya-lohusalik-donemi-bitiminde-gusul-abdesti-almadan/0193c42d-ad5b-73e5-5d30-81f1ff58c933)). Once the forty-day maximum has passed, no further condition applies ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/adet-veya-lohusalik-donemi-bitiminde-gusul-abdesti-almadan/0193c42d-ad5b-73e5-5d30-81f1ff58c933)). If postnatal bleeding ends before that, the woman performs ghusl or a prayer time passes ([kurul.diyanet.gov.tr](https://kurul.diyanet.gov.tr/tr/fetva/adet-veya-lohusalik-donemi-bitiminde-gusul-abdesti-almadan/0193c42d-ad5b-73e5-5d30-81f1ff58c933)). [Report an error](https://getvaaz.com/en/contact) --- Source: [VAAZ — getvaaz.com](https://getvaaz.com/en) · This is the agent-facing Markdown edition of the page; the canonical edition lives at the `canonical` URL above. Full index: https://getvaaz.com/llms.txt