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What is the ruling on the prayer of a woman whose menstruation continued for a full month, given that she did not pray for the entire month?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The maximum duration of menstruation is fifteen days according to the majority of scholars. If the bleeding exceeds this period, the woman becomes in a state of istihadha (non-menstrual bleeding). She should then refer to her regular period; if she does not have a regular period, she should rely on discernible characteristics of the blood (tamyiz). If she has neither a regular period nor discernible characteristics, then the most common habit of women is six or seven days, and anything beyond that is istihadha. After this, she should perform ghusl (ritual bath) and then perform wudu (ablution) for each prayer after its time has begun.

If it is established that you were in a state of istihadha, you must calculate the days during which you were in this state and make up the prayers you missed, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Allah's debt is more worthy of being fulfilled." This is the view of the majority of scholars, and it is the most cautious and strongest in terms of evidence, contrary to Ibn Taymiyyah, who holds that there is no obligation to make up prayers for someone who missed them out of ignorance.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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