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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Jurisprudence Made Easy Dialogue on Istihadha My father took his seat. He gave the title of istihadha to today’s session. No sooner had he finished uttering the word, it dawned on me that the word has a ring about it that reminded me of haydh. Thus, I concluded they might be related and that the subject could concern women. That is, a kind of bleeding is involved. I asked my father: * Is istihadah confined to women? - Yes, but.. * But what?

●Yes, it is, provided that the bleeding is not that of haydh, nifas, wounds, ulcerations, and that resulting from ripping the virginal membrane. * There are quite a number of different types of bleedings. - Some of them indicate woman’s fertility and youth. Don’t you notice that when a woman reaches menopause, she cannot bear children. * Since the nature of the blood of nifas, wounds and pimples is known, how could the woman differentiate between the blood of istihadha and haydh?

●Do you remember the characteristics of haydh blood? * Yes, I do. It is red or blackish in colour and warm. - It is often the case that istihadha blood differs from that of haydh. It is yellowish in colour, thin in property, and seeps out without a sting or burning. * How could a woman identify that istihadha blood is not that resulting from bursting open the virginal membrane, especially at the time of her wedding?

●The blood resulting from puncturing the virginal membrane is little, in that if the woman places a piece of cotton inside, the blood will form a circle round the cotton. The blood of istihidha, on the other hand, could soak the piece of cotton, and sometimes exceeds it.

That said, istihadha is of three types: A major one that I have just talked about, a medium one in which the piece of cotton could be soaked, but not more, and a minor one where the blood may soil the piece of cotton, but not to the saturation point, because it is little. * What is the ruling on each one of these types of istihadha? - For a major istihadha, the woman must perform three ghusl.

One for Subh (Dawn prayer), one for Dhuhr (Noon or lunch-time prayer) and Asr (Afternoon prayer), if performed concurrently, and one for Maghrib (Sunset prayer) and Isha (Evening prayer), if she decides to perform them consecutively. * And If she was to perform each one of them separately? - She must do ghusl for each prayer. * Is this a universal rule? - Well, this is the ruling, if the bleeding was continuous.

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