Fatwa #4428118 April 2020United Kingdom
Irregular Bleeding - What do i count as day 1?
Question
Assalamualaykum
I wanted to ask a question about my period. I am on contraception pills and have been on them for 2 years. Around 4 months ago my pills were changed to a different one and my period cycles became messed up. So on these new pills i was bleeding 10 days then would have the next 10 days no bleeding then again then again another 10 days bleeding (+/- few days) and so on. This was going on for a few months. Last month i went back to my original pills. The ones i used to take (i used to get regular periods on these pills so every month i would come on my period for 8-10 days). So now that i am back on my original pills my periods are slowly going back to normal. During this process i have been having abit of spotting due to my periods settling themselves. So below i have written which days iv been having spotting and bleeding this month:
So 20th jan was the last day of my period. (Duration of my period was 5 days. So from 15th jan to 20th jan was period)
20th jan- 28th jan : no spotting no bleeding
28th jan: 1 day of spotting (which i clunted as istihadha because i didnt have 15 clean days gap to count this as period)
29th jan - 7th feb: no spotting no bleeding
7th feb: brown spotting
8th feb: no spotting no bleeding
9th feb: no spotting no bleeding
10th feb: no spotting no bleeding
11th feb : red spotting
12th feb: proper bleeding (like a period)
13th feb: still proper bleeding (like period)
So my question is which day will i count as my Day 1 for my period. Will it be the day i started spotting (7th feb) or the day i started bleeding (11th or 12th feb) ?
JazakAllah.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
In principle, it is imperative for a woman to keep record of both her menstrual and purity habit. The importance of maintaining a habit arises when a woman experiences irregular bleeding. In the case of irregular building, differentiating between what is considered haidh and what is considered istihaadah is only possible by means of a woman’s regular habit. When a woman is not aware of her habit and she begins experiencing irregular bleeding, a woman is referred to as a mutahayyirah. The rulings of a mutahayyirah defer greatly from the rulings of a woman that has a regular habit.
You state that your period began on the 15th of January and it continued for five days. Between the 20th of January and the bleeding that began on the 12th of February, you experienced days with spotting. Hence, you did not experience a 15 day time frame in which you were completely clean. As such, your bleeding will be deemed to be continuous from the 15th of January to the 12th of February.
In order for us to differentiate between the days of haidh and the days of istihādha, we require both your menstrual and purity habit. Kindly provide the days of your last regular menstruation and purity.
You may revert back to us on admin@daruliftaa.net (ref: Mirza-Zain Baig)
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mirza-Zain Baig
Student - Darul Iftaa
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
21-08-1441| 13-04-2020
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