Women - Childbirth & Religious Duties Thereafter
Question
Should a woman stop praying or fasting for complete 40 days after giving birth? Or should she fast and pray when she has stopped her postnatal bleeding? What if she is not sure of the time when she has stopped bleeding as the discharge comes and goes over a period of several weeks? May I also ask about the case of a woman who completes her 40 days in the middle of Ramadhan. She does not fast the whole month because she is breast feeding. What does she have to do by way of compensation? Can she feed the poor? If so, how much and for how many days? The whole of the month or the last 10 days only? Does she have to make up for the missed days?
Answer
The first thing to say is that there is no minimum duration for the postnatal discharge, but it has a maximum which is 40 days. Lady Umm Salamah, the Prophet's wife said: "During the Prophet's time, a new mother stayed for 40 days." (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others). Al-Tirmithi comments: "All scholars among the Prophet's companions and their successors agree that a new mother does not pray for 40 days unless she stops bleeding before that. In this case, she should take a shower and pray. Should she continue to bleed after 40 days, the majority of scholars agree that she continues to pray." It is also well known that a woman does not fast when she is in her menstruation period or during the period of postnatal bleeding. However, she is required to make up for missed fasting but she does not need to make up for her missed prayers. A woman named Mu'athah asked Lady Aisha, the Prophet's wife: "Why does a woman fast in place of the days she misses during her menstruation but does not offer her missed prayers?" She answered: "We used to have that during the time of the Prophet and we were ordered to make up missed fasting but we were not required to make up for the missed prayers?" (Related by all six). In both situations of menstruation and postnatal discharge, sexual intercourse is forbidden, but not foreplay with one's husband, provided it is away from the woman's private parts.
To sum up, a new mother must not pray or fast during her postnatal bleeding. If she does, then her fasting and prayer are not valid. She will still need to fast an equal number of days to those when she cannot fast, because her fasting during this period is of no value. As we have said previously, it is not necessary that the compensatory fasting should be on consecutive days. She may choose to fast one day at a time, and may delay her fasting until the winter when the days are cooler and shorter.
This is a separate issue from the case of a pregnant or a nursing woman. Such a woman may not fast, but she should feed a poor person in compensation. This is the view of Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar, two of the leading authoritative scholars among the Prophet's companions. Ibn Abbas is reported to have said of the feeding of a poor person in place of fasting: "This is a concession granted to elderly people who find fasting too difficult. They may not fast provided they feed a poor person for every day they do not fast. The same applies to pregnant or nursing women, if they fear for the pregnancy or the newborn child. They need not fast provided they feed a poor person".
Ibn Abbas is reported to have said to a pregnant woman in his household: "You are in the same position of [an old] person who finds fasting much too difficult. You may compensate by feeding, and you need not make up the fasting." Ibn Umar was asked about a pregnant woman fearing for her child and he said: "She need not fast, and she feeds a poor person with a measure of wheat." The measure is roughly half a kilogram.
We say that this is a separate question from one concerning postnatal period because it applies to a woman who has finished that period before the start of Ramadhan. When the two situations overlap, as in the case cited by my reader, then there are two reasons for the woman not to fast, one requiring making up the fasting and the other requiring compensation by feeding. We say that the compensation is sufficient because it is the easier option. So the woman in this case should feed a poor person two meals for every day of Ramadhan she did not fast, which is the whole month. I cannot tell her how much a meal costs. This should be of the average type of food she has at home. So it may vary from one woman to another according to the type of food she takes. I wish to add that this question is often linked to the woman fearing for her child or for herself. That was a reasonable assumption for scholars to make in the early generation of Islam when they [used to] say that a nursing woman who fasts may fall unconscious or may grow thinner everyday. We now know that the demands pregnancy or breast-feeding make on the body of the woman are too heavy.
Therefore, we say that the very condition of pregnancy or breast-feeding is sufficiently difficult for the woman to make her beneficiary of God's concession. She does not need to fast, provided she compensates by feeding a poor person two meals for every day she does not fast in Ramadhan.
Islam in Perspective
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