In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving

 

All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.

 

This blood that you have seen on the 16th or 17th day is an abnormal bleeding. It is not counted as a part of your menses. The menses should be within 15 days maximum. In this case the rulings on a mustaḥaḍah are as follows:

 

1) It is obligatory upon the Mustahadah to perform Ablution for each prayer, because of the order of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to Fatimah bint Abi Hubaish: “Then make Ablution for every Salat”, meaning that she should make ablution only when the prescribed time of Salat begins and not before it.

 

2) Prior to ablution, she should wash the traces of blood and covers her private part with a pad of cotton to absorb the blood. The Prophet (peace be upon him) told Humnah bint Jahsh:

 

“I recommend that you should use cotton, for it absorbs blood.” She said: “it is too copious for that”. He (peace be upon him) said; “then take a cloth.” She replied, “it is too copious for that.” He said: “then Talaj’jami” i.e., to prepare a holding around the waist that will maintain the cotton pad tightly attached to her private part. Nothing that comes out should then harm her because the Prophet told Fatimah bint Hubaish: “Refrain from Salat during the days of your normal menses then wash and make ablution for every Salat and then pray “even if blood drops onto the mat!” (Ahmad and Ibn Majah)

 

3) Sexual Intercourse: Scholars disagreed about its permissibility. The correct opinion is that it is permissible because many women (ten or more) had their Istihadah at the time of the Prophet. Allah and His Messenger did not prevent spouses from engaging in sexual intercourse. In fact, the saying of Allah: “Keep away from women during menses” (Al-Baqarah 2:222), is an evidence that it is only obligatory to keep away from sexual intercourse with women only during menses. And since offering prayers is allowed while in Istihadah, then there should be no difficulty in having sexual intercourse. To prevent sexual intercourse based upon Qiyass (analogy) with the state of Haid is incorrect, because the two situations are not the same. Deduction of rulings by Qiyass is invalid whenever there are existing variations.

 

Almighty Allah knows best.