Is the initial three-day period of menstruation, followed by an interruption and then the return of bleeding on the fifth and sixth days, considered a complete menstrual period necessitating the abstention from prayer?

The blood that returns on the fifth and sixth days is considered menstrual blood (hayd), because it appeared within a time frame that allows it to be a continuation of the first blood flow within a single menstrual cycle. The period of purity (tuhr) that intervenes between the two blood flows is a valid purity, during which the rulings applicable to pure women must be observed. If the woman first sees purity, she should perform ghusl (ritual bath) and pray. Then, if the blood returns, she is considered to be menstruating and must abstain from fasting, prayer, and all other acts that a menstruating woman abstains from, until the blood ceases.