Nifas: how to count bleeding after childbirth

What counts as nifas

Nifas (نفاس) is the bleeding that comes after a baby is born, or after a miscarriage once some of the baby's features had formed (see bleeding after miscarriage). Bleeding before the birth, during pregnancy or labour, is not nifas; it is istihaza.

No minimum, 40 days maximum

Nifas has no minimum. If bleeding stops after a few days, the mother makes ghusl and begins praying and fasting at once; she does not have to wait for 40 days. The maximum is 40 days: nothing after that can be nifas.

When bleeding stops and comes back

In the relied-upon Hanafi position, any blood seen within 40 days of the birth is nifas, and the clean days between are part of the nifas too. If you stop on day 20, make ghusl and pray, and the blood returns on day 30, stop praying again: it is still nifas. The prayers you offered in the clean days were valid; fasts kept in those days must be made up.

Some Hanafi scholars hold that a clean gap of 15 days or more within the 40 days ends the nifas. If that is the view your local scholars follow, the blood after such a gap is judged as haiz. The Nifas & Haiz Overlap Calculator uses the first view and notes the second.

When bleeding goes past 40 days

• First birth, or no previous nifas habit: the 40 days are nifas, and the rest is istihaza.
• With a previous nifas habit (for example 30 days after your last child): if the bleeding goes beyond 40, you return to that habit. The first 30 days are nifas and everything after is istihaza. Prayers missed after day 30 are made up.
• If the bleeding stops within 40 days, all of it is nifas and that becomes your new nifas habit.

What is and is not allowed during nifas

The rulings are the same as for haiz:

• No prayer; it is not made up later.
• No fasting; missed obligatory fasts are made up.
• No intercourse until nifas ends. Other affection is allowed, except contact between the navel and knees without a barrier.
• No touching the Quran, reciting it as Quran, entering the mosque or performing tawaf.
• Dhikr, dua, salawat and listening to the Quran are all permitted. Verses may be read with the intention of dua or dhikr, such as the du'as of the Quran.

Ending nifas

When the bleeding stops, make ghusl and resume worship. If a prayer time is still running and there is time to make ghusl and begin the prayer, that prayer is due. The Nifas Calculator shows which days were nifas and which were istihaza.