Nifās is the bleeding that follows childbirth. In its rulings it is like menstruation: the same acts pause, missed fasts are made up, missed prayers are not, and it ends with ghusl.
Its rulings (as in ḥayḍ)
- • She does not pray, and does NOT make up the missed prayers.
- • She does not fast, and DOES make up the missed days later.
- • No ṭawāf; no intercourse until the bleeding stops and she makes ghusl.
- • All other worship — dhikr, duʿāʾ, ṣalawāt, charity — remains hers.
How long does it last?
- • If the bleeding stops early — even after a few days — she makes ghusl and resumes prayer.
- • Maximum: 40 days in the Ḥanafī and Ḥanbalī schools.
- • Maximum: 60 days in the Mālikī and Shāfiʿī schools (40 is the usual).
- • Bleeding beyond the maximum is treated as istiḥāḍa — she purifies and prays.
Returning to purity
- 1
🩸The bleeding stops.
- 2
🚿Perform a complete ghusl with the intention of lifting nifās.
- 3
🕌Resume prayer; make up the missed fasts afterwards.
Evidence
Umm Salama: the women in postnatal bleeding at the time of the Prophet ﷺ would sit (not praying) for forty days.
Abū Dāwūd 311 / Tirmidhī 139 ḥasan
The made-up-fasts-not-prayers rule of menstruation applies equally to nifās.
By analogy to ḥayḍ (Muslim 335)
Classical references
Hanafi: al-Hidāya · Radd al-Muḥtār
Maliki: al-Mudawwana · Mukhtaṣar Khalīl
Shāfiʿī: Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn · al-Umm
Hanbali: al-Mughnī · Zād al-Mustaqniʿ
Learn more
A miscarriage: if what is passed had recognisable human form, the following blood is nifās; if it was too early to have any form, the blood is istiḥāḍa and she prays. If bleeding stops and returns within the maximum, the schools have detail on whether the gap counts as purity — take specific cases to a teacher.
Related lessons
Content is being reviewed for authenticity by a qualified scholar. Follow your local scholars for personal rulings.