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Is the light-colored blood and the brownish discharge that appeared at the time of menstruation considered a barrier to prayer, especially since nothing else appeared after it except for the clear discharge?

2 min readAlso available in العربية

Returning blood after the cessation of menstruation is considered menses if fifteen days or more have passed between it and the previous menstrual period, as this is the minimum period of purity between two menstrual cycles. However, if the blood returns in less than fifteen days from the previous menstruation:

If the total days of both bleedings and the purity between them are fifteen days or less, then all of that is considered one menstrual period.

If the blood returns in less than fifteen days and the total of both bleedings and the purity between them is more than fifteen days, then we examine:

If the first bleeding along with the subsequent purity reaches fifteen days, then the first is menstruation (as long as it is a day and a night or more), and the second is irregular bleeding (dam fasad) during which she prays and fasts.

If the first bleeding along with the subsequent purity does not reach fifteen days, and the blood returns and continues until it, along with the preceding blood and purity, exceeds fifteen days, then the woman is considered to have continuous non-menstrual bleeding (mustahadah). She should act based on a valid distinction (tamyeer). If she cannot distinguish, or her distinction is invalid, she should act based on her usual custom. If she has no custom, she should consider herself menstruating for six or seven days, according to the usual state of most women.

The sign of the cessation of menses and purity is the complete stoppage of blood, yellowish discharge (sufrah), and brownish discharge (kudrah). The white discharge that appears thereafter is not considered menses. If the blood returns, the woman is considered menstruating until it stops, unless the period between the two extremes of bleeding exceeds fifteen days. Prayers that were missed under the assumption of menstruation must be made up if it becomes clear that it was not menstruation, or if it was menstruation but the ritual bath (ghusl) was not performed after observing purity.

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

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