Womens Issues Made Simple

Nifas (Blood of Childbirth)

What is Nifas? Nifas is the blood seen after childbirth, or after a miscarriage.

Childbirth: The blood seen as soon as the baby begins to come out of the womb is the blood of nifas. In other words blood seen during childbirth and after childbirth is nifas.

Note: The blood that a pregnant woman sometimes sees before delivery is istihadha or haidh depending on the signs but it is not nifas.

Miscarriage: When a woman sees large clots of blood coming out of the womb, and when one is sure that it is a miscarriage. The blood seen in this case is the blood of nifas.

Nifas can be a maximum of 10 days from the date of delivery or miscarriage. Here is how to calculate the time span of nifas:

If the blood is seen for 10 days only, then all of it is nifas.

If the blood flow exceeds 10 days, then these guidelines must be followed:

If a woman has a habit of duration during ‘Haidh’, that means this woman sees blood for a fixed period each month, and this woman delivers a baby and sees blood for more than 10 days, then she must consider the same amount of days as nifas and the rest of the days as istihadha. (Check Scenario 1 below, to get a clear understanding).

If a woman does not have a habit of time or duration during haidh, that means she is Mudhtaribah, or Nasiyah or Mubtadiya, then she should consider the first 10 days as nifas and the rest as istihadha.(Check out Scenario 2 below to get a clear understanding).

If a woman has a habit of time and duration during haidh, that means this woman sees blood of haidh on a specific date each month and for a fixed duration, and then she delivers a baby and sees blood for more than 10 days, then she should consider the same amount of days of her duration of her period as nifas and the rest as istihadha. (Check out scenario 3 below to get a clear understanding).

If a woman has a habit of time during haidh, that means this woman sees blood of haidh on a specific date each month, and then she delivers a baby and sees blood for more than 10 days, then she should consider the first 10 days as nifas and the rest as istihadha. (Check out scenario 4 below to get a clear understanding).

Scenario 1: This woman sees blood for a fixed duration during haidh. She delivered a baby and has been seeing blood for 13 days, is this blood all nifas? Let us suppose her duration of haidh is 8 days, then 8 days will be nifas and the remaining 5 days will be istihadha. (Please check Question 1 below for another scenario).

Scenario 2: This woman has no fixed duration and no fixed time when she sees blood during haidh. She delivered a baby and has been seeing blood for 13 days, is this blood all nifas? Since this woman has no habit of duration, then she should consider the first 10 days as nifas and the remaining 3 days as istihadha. (Please check Question 2 below for another scenario).

Scenario 3: This woman has a habit of time and duration during haidh that means she sees blood of haidh on a specific date each month and for a fixed duration. She delivers a baby and sees blood for 14 days., is this blood all nifas? Let us suppose that her duration of haidh is 7 days, then 7 days will be nifas and the remaining 7 days will be istihadha. (Please check Question 3 below for another scenario)

Scenario 4: This woman has a habit of time during haidh, which means this woman sees blood of haidh on a specific date each month. She delivers a baby and sees blood for more than 13 days. Then she should consider the first 10 days as nifas and the remaining 3 days as istihadha. (Please check Question 4 below for another scenario).

Question 1: Keeping scenario 1 in mind, if a woman who has a habit of duration during haidh, delivers a baby and sees blood for 30 days, what is the ruling?

Answer: The first 8 days are nifas (her habit of duration of haidh in this scenario).
The next 10 days are going to be counted as istihadha.
The next 8 days are haidh (If it still has the signs of haidh. If it does not have the signs of haidh, then she must consult her family to see if they had the same pattern after delivery).
The final 4 days are istihadha

Question 2: Keeping scenario 2 in mind, where a woman does not have a habit of time and duration when haidh is concerned, if she delivers a baby and sees blood for 30 days, what is the ruling?

Answer: First 10 days are nifas (since she has no habit of time and duration).
The next 10 days are istihadha.
The final 10 days are haidh (if the blood continues to have the signs of haidh. Otherwise if for example, 8 days had signs, then 8 count towards haidh and 2 to istihadha. If for example, the blood had no signs, then she must contact her family for the number of days of duration of haidh).

Question 3: Keeping scenario 3 in mind, when a woman has a habit of time and duration where haidh is concerned – If she delivers a baby on the 1st of the month and sees blood for 30 days, and her habit is that she sees blood on the 10th to 17th every month, what is the ruling?

Answer: The first 7 days are nifas (1st to the 7th, because this woman has a habit of duration too).
The next 10 days are istihadha (8th to 17th even though it is the time of her menses, she should still consider it as istihadha).
The last 13 days are istihadha (18th to 30th, because this woman has a habit of time too and her time is 10th of the month)

Note: According to the rulings of Ayatullah Seestani in order for a woman in such a case to get haidh again, she must wait until the 10th of the next month.

Question 4: Keeping scenario 4 in mind that is a woman who has a habit of time only where haidh is concerned - If she delivers a baby and sees blood for 30 days, what is the ruling?

Answer: The first 10 days are nifas (Since she has a habit of time only).
The next 10 days are istihadha.
Following days are haidh if the blood seen now is on the days this woman has a habit of seeing each month. Even if the blood lacks the signs of haidh it should still be considered haidh if it falls on the specific time. (Check scenario 5 for a clear understanding). If it does not fall on the specific time then it is not haidh, it is istihadha even though it has the signs of haidh***. (Check scenario 6 for getting a clear understanding)***

Scenario 5: This woman has a habit of time only, where haidh is concerned. She used to see blood of haidh on the 1st of every month. She delivers a baby on the 10th of this month and sees blood for 40 days. What is the ruling? This scenario has two rulings.

Ruling 1: The first 10 days will be nifas, then the next 10 days is going to be istihadha. Now if this woman sees blood and it falls on the specific date and it has signs of haidh and she sees these signs for 8 days. Then the first 10 days are nifas (from the 10th to the 20th of this month). Next 10 days are istihadha (from the 20th to the 30th of this month). Next 8 days are haidh (from the 1st to the 8th). Last 12 days are istihadha (from the 9th to the20th)

Ruling 2: The first 10 days will be nifas, then the next 10 days will be istihadha. Now if this woman sees blood and it falls on the specific date and it has no signs of haidh, because the date is her specific date when she experiences haidh, it will be considered haidh. But since she does not have a habit of fixed duration (there are no signs of haidh), and if the blood seen exceeds 10 days, then she needs to check with her family to get the number of days. Suppose they say the usual number of days is 6. Then,

First 10 days are nifas (from the 10th to the 20th of this month)
Next10 days are istihadha (from the 20th to the 30th of this month)
Next 6 days are haidh (from the 1st to the 6th)
Last 14 days are istihadha (from the 7th to the20th)

Scenario 6: This woman has a habit of time only, where haidh is concerned. She used to see blood of haidh on the 1st of every month. If she delivers a baby on the 2nd of this month and sees blood for 32 days. What is the ruling?

First 10 days are nifas (from the 2nd to the 12th of this month)
Next 10 days are istihadha (from the13th to the 23rd of this month)
Next 6 days are istihadha (from the 24th to the 30th)
Last 6 days are haidh (from the 1st to the 7th depending on if one is certain that it is haidh)

In scenario 6 above istihadha went on for 16 days, because this woman has a habit of time and her time of haidh was not till the 1st of the month.

Important Note: All the things that are Haraam (prohibited) for a woman who is in Haidh (menstruating) are Haraam for a woman in Nifas.