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When to Offer Prayer After Miscarriage

08 November, 2023
Q As-Salamu alaykum. My wife had 8 week miscarriage. After how long can she start praying and can sleep together?

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

  • If the miscarriage has resulted in stillbirth, then the bleeding that follows is reckoned as nifas or post-natal bleeding. Therefore, if she continues to experience bleeding, she ought to refrain from prayer and sexual intimacy.
  • If, on the other hand, the miscarriage entailed no stillbirth, then she is not to treat it as a case of nifas; she should abstain from sexual relations and prayer only while she is undergoing her monthly period.

Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

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If the miscarriage has resulted in stillbirth, then the bleeding that follows is reckoned as nifas or post-natal bleeding. Therefore, if she continues to experience bleeding, she ought to refrain from prayer and sexual intimacy.

Stated differently, if, following miscarriage, your wife is experiencing nifas, vaginal intercourse is not allowed, while there is no restriction on any other lawful forms of sexual fulfillment.

Having said this, if the bleeding continues for more than sixty days, it is not nifas; rather it is due to istihadah or chronic bleeding. In the case of istihadah, there is no restriction on vaginal intercourse or prayer. However, she should clean herself and perform ablution before each prayer.

If, on the other hand, the miscarriage entailed no stillbirth, then she is not to treat it as a case of nifas; she should abstain from sexual relations and prayer only while she is undergoing her monthly period.

If the bleeding exceeds the number of her standard number of days of menses, then it shall be treated as istihadah. Once again, there is no restriction on sexual intercourse or prayer during istihadah. She should, however, clean herself before the prayer.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.

Source: www.askthescholar.com