Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Nifas

Issue 514: From the time when the child birth takes place, the blood seen by the mother is Nifas, provided that it stops before or on completion of the tenth day. While in the condition of Nifas, a woman is called Nafsa.

Issue 515: The blood which a mother sees before the appearance of the first limb of the child is not Nifas.

Issue 516: It is not necessary that the baby is fully grown. Even if a deficient baby is born, the blood seen by the mother for ten days will be Nifas. The term 'Child birth' must be applicable to it.

Issue 517: It is possible that Nifas blood may be discharged for an instant only, but it never exceeds 10 days.

Issue 518: If a woman doubts whether she has aborted something or not, or whether the thing aborted is a child or not, it is not necessary for her to investigate, and the blood which is discharged in this situation is not Nifas.

Issue 519: On the basis of precaution, halting or pausing in a masjid and other acts which are haraam for a Haaez are also haraam for a Nafsa and those acts which are obligatory for a Haaez are also obligatory for a Nafsa.

Issue 520: Divorcing a woman who is in the state of Nifas and having sexual intercourse with her is haraam. However, if her husband has sexual intercourse with her it does not involve any Kaffara.

Issue 521: * When a woman becomes Clean (tahir/pak ) from Nifas, she should do Ghusl and perform acts of worship. And if she sees blood again, once or often, and the total number of days on which blood is seen and the intervening days during which she remains Clean (tahir/pak ) is 10 or less than 10, then all of it will be Nifas. In the intervening days, as a precaution, she will perform all that is obligatory for a Clean (tahir/pak ) woman and also refrain from all acts which are forbidden to a woman in Nifas. So, if she had kept fasts, she will give their Qadha.

And if the blood which she saw later exceeds ten days then there can be two situations:

1. if the woman does not have a fixed habit of duration, then she will count the first ten days as Nifas, and the rest as Istihaza.

2. and if she has fixed habit of duration, then, as a precaution, the blood which she sees after the habitual days of duration will require her to act as a Mustahaza, and also avoid all that is forbidden to a woman in Nifas.

Issue 522: If a woman becomes Clean (tahir/pak ) from Nifas, but feels that there might be blood in the interior part, she should insert some cotton, and wait till she finds out. If she finds herself Clean (tahir/pak ) then she should do Ghusl for the acts of worship.

Issue 523: * If Nifas blood is seen by a mother for more than 10 days and she has a fixed habit of Hayz, then her Nifas will be equal to the duration of Hayz and the rest would be Istihaza. And, if she does not have a fixed habit of Hayz, she would take ten days as those of Hayz, and treat the rest as Istihaza.

For a woman who has a fixed habit of Hayz, it is a recommended precaution to act as a Mustahaza from the day after her habit is over, and at the same time refrain from acts forbidden to one in Nifas till 18th day. And for a woman with no fixed habit of Hayz, this recommended precaution applies from the tenth to the eighteenth day since the child birth.

Issue 524: * If the habit of Hayz of a woman is less than 10 days and blood is seen for more days than the days of her Hayz, she should treat the days equal to the days of her Hayz as Nifas. After that, she has a choice either to leave out her Salat or act according to the rules of Istihaza, but it is better to leave out Salat for a day. And if the blood continues to be seen even after 10 days, then all the days in excess of her habit, upto the tenth day, will be Istihaza and she should give Qadha of the acts of worship which she did not perform during those days. For example, if the Hayz duration of a woman has always been 6 days and her blood comes for more than 6 days, she should treat 6 days as Nifas and on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th day, it will be her choice either to abstain from all acts of worship or adopt the rules of Istihaza. And if she sees blood for more than ten days, all the days in excess of her habitual duration of Hayz will be treated as the days of Istihaza.

Issue 525: * If a woman, with a fixed habit of Hayz sees blood continuously for a month or more after giving birth to a child, the blood seen for the days equal to her Hayz habit will be Nifas, and the blood seen after that for ten days will be Istihaza, even if it coincides with the dates of her monthly Hayz.

For example, there is a woman whose fixed Hayz habit is from 20th to 27th of every month.

She gives birth on the 10th of a given month, and she continues to see blood for a month or more; her Nifas will be seven days, equal to her Hayz days, and will be from 10th to 17th of that month; now, the blood which she continues to see from the 17th onwards for ten days will be Istihaza, even though it falls in her days of Hayz habit.

After the lapse of 10 days, if bleeding continues, then it is Hayz if it falls in the days of habit, irrespective of whether it has the signs of Hayz or not.

And if bleeding does not occur in the days of Hayz habit, she will wait till the days of her habit, even if it means waiting for a month or more and even if blood has the signs of Hayz.

And if she has no fixed habit of commencement time of Hayz, she should make an effort to recognise her Hayz by its signs; and if that is not possible, because the blood seen after Nifas remains of one type for a month or more, then she will adopt the habit prevailing among her relatives to determine the days of Hayz. And, if that also is not possible, then she has an option of fixing her days of Hayz. These details have been dealt with in the discussions about Hayz.

Issue 526: * If a woman does not have a fixed habit of duration, and if after giving birth she sees blood continuously for a month or more, the rules contained in no. 523 will apply to the first 10 days; and as for the next 10 days it is Istihaza. And as regards the blood seen thereafter, it can be either Hayz or Istihaza, and in order to ascertain whether it is Hayz, she will follow the rule stated in the foregoing clause.

Ghusl for Touching a Dead Body

Issue 527: If a person touches a human dead body which has become cold and has not yet been given Ghusl (i.e. brings any part of his own body in contact with it) he should do Ghusl regardless of whether he touched it while asleep or awake, voluntarily or otherwise. Ghusl will also be wajib if his nail or bone touches the nail or bone of the dead body. However, Ghusl is not obligatory if one touches a dead animal.

Issue 528: If a person touches a dead body which has not become entirely cold, Ghusl will not be wajib, even if the part touched has become cold.

Issue 529: * If a person brings his hair in contact with the body of a dead person, or if his body touches the hair of the dead person, or if his hair touches the hair of the dead person, Ghusl will not become obligatory.

Issue 530: * If a person touches a dead child or a foetus in which life has entered, then Ghusl for touching it will be obligatory. Hence, if a still-born child whose body has become cold, comes in contact with the outer part of its mother's body, the mother should do Ghusl for touching the dead body. In fact, as an obligatory precaution, she should do Ghusl even if the child has not touched the outer part of her body.

Issue 531: * A child who is born after its mother has died, and her body has become cold, and if it touches any outer part of mother's dead body, it should do Ghusl on attaining the age of puberty. In fact, it should do Ghusl, as a precaution, even if it did not touch the mother's body.

Issue 532: If a person touches a dead body after it has been given three obligatory Ghusls, Ghusl for touching will not be wajib. However, if he touches any part of the dead body before the completion of 3 Ghusls he should do Ghusl for touching the dead body, even if the 3rd Ghusl of that part which he has touched may have been done.

Issue 533: If an insane person or a minor touches a dead body, the insane person would do Ghusl when he becomes sane, and similarly the minor child would do Ghusl when he attains the age of puberty.

Issue 534: * If a part is separated from a living person, or from a dead body which has not yet been given Ghusls, and a person touches that separated part he does not have to do any Ghusl even if that separated part contains bones.

Issue 535: * It is not obligatory to do Ghusl for touching a separated bone which has not been given Ghusl, whether it has been separated from a dead body or a living person. The same rule applies to touching the teeth which have been separated form a dead body or a living person.

Issue 536: The method of doing Ghusl for touching the dead body is the same as of Ghusl for Janabat. However, for a person who has done Ghusl for touching a dead body, the recommended precaution is that he should perform Wudhu if he wants to pray.

Issue 537: One Ghusl is sufficient for one who touches several corpses or touches the same corpse a number of times.

Issue 538: A person who has not done Ghusl after touching a dead body is not prohibited from halting or pausing in a masjid or from having sexual intercourse with his wife, or from reciting the verses of the holy Qur'an

which have obligatory Sajdah. However, he should do Ghusl for offering prayers or for other similar acts of worship.