The Maximum Number of Days of Menstruation

The disagreement

The Muslims agree that the blood which comes from the womb is of three types: menstrual blood (ḥayḍ), irregular bleeding (istiḥāḍah), and postnatal bleeding (nifās). They also agree that the days of menstruation can reach ten days.

However, they differed concerning a woman whose bleeding continues beyond this: how many days can be counted as menstruation, and from which point is it considered istiḥāḍah? There are two opinions.

The two opinions

First opinion: the maximum is fifteen days. This is the opinion of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad.

Second opinion: the maximum is ten days. This is the opinion of Abū Ḥanīfah.

Reasoning

There is no authentic evidence from the Sunnah specifying a fixed duration for menstruation. Each position is therefore based upon habits and customary patterns, which differ from one woman to another.

Evidence

For the maximum being fifteen days

There is no specific limit established in the Sharīʿah for the number of days of menstruation, so the matter is referred back to custom and habit, and what is customarily known does not exceed fifteen days.

ʿAṭāʾ said: “Menstruation is from one day to fifteen days.” Al-Bukhārī mentioned it without a connected chain, while al-Dāraquṭnī narrated it with a connected chain.

For the maximum being ten days

The ḥadīth of Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet ﷺ said, “The minimum of menstruation is three days and its maximum is ten days.” (Narrated by al-Dāraquṭnī; it is weak.)

Mālik said: “The menstruation of women is three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten days.” (Narrated by al-Dāraquṭnī; it is weak.)

The stronger opinion

The first opinion is stronger: the maximum duration of menstruation is fifteen days, because there is no authentic ḥadīth specifying a fixed duration of ten days. The matter is therefore referred back to custom (ʿurf) and habit (ʿādah).

The practical consequence

On the fifteen-day opinion: if a woman’s bleeding continues beyond fifteen days, it is istiḥāḍah, and the rulings of istiḥāḍah apply to her.

On the ten-day opinion: if a woman’s bleeding continues beyond ten days, it is istiḥāḍah, and the rulings of istiḥāḍah apply to her.

References

Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ, al-Hidāyah, al-Maʿūnah, al-Tafrīʿ, Kifāyat al-Muḥtāj, Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, al-Mughnī, and Sharḥ Ibn Ruzayq.