بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Shaykh Zaid al-Wasābī said:
“The First Opinion: There is no limit defined in days for the minimum of menstruation, nor for its maximum, and this is the position of ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī, al-Awzāʿī, and it is the choice of Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Shawkānī, and Ibn ʿUthaymīn. Mālik said: There is no limit for its minimum (only).
The Second Opinion: The minimum of menstruation is one day and night, and its maximum is fifteen (days), and this is the position of ʿAtāʾ, al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad, and Abū Thawr.
The Third Opinion: Its minimum is three days, and its maximum is ten days, and this is the position of al-Thawrī, Abū Hanīfah, and Abū Yūsuf.
The Preponderant (Opinion): is the first opinion, that there is no limit for its minimum nor its maximum, rather whenever the blood is found, she is (considered as) menstruating, and whenever the blood stops, she is (considered) pure (from menstruation).
Allāh, The Most-High said:
وَيَسْتَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ قُلْ هُوَ أَذَى فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّى يَطْهُرْنَ
“They ask you about menstruation. Say: ‘It is harm, so keep away from women during menstruation and do not approach them until they are pure‘” [al-Baqarah: 222]
– the verse, and the hadīth of ʿĀʾishah which the author [of ‘Umdatul-Ahkām] mentioned, in which (it states):
وَلَكِنْ دَعِي الصَّلَاةَ قَدْرَ الْأَيَّامِ الَّتِي كُنْتِ تَحِيضِينَ فِيهَا …
“But leave the prayer for the number of days in which you used to menstruate…” – the hadīth.
And in the second narration:
فَإِذَا أَقْبَلَتِ الْحَيْضَةُ فَاتْرُكِي الصَّلَاةَ فِيهَا
“So when the menstruation comes, then leave the prayer during it.”
So there is no specification in the verse and the hadīth for the minimum of menstruation and its maximum, rather the ruling revolves around its presence and absence.
Ibn al-Qayyim said – may Allāh have mercy upon him: “Nothing has come from Allāh, nor from His Messenger, nor from the Companions defining the minimum of menstruation with any limit at all, nor is there anything in analogy (qiyās) that requires it.”
See also the statement of Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah on this issue after this. As for the statement of Ibn al-Qayyim: “Nothing has come from Allāh, nor from His Messenger…” etc., rather there have come elevated (marfūʿ) ahādīth containing specification of the minimum and maximum of menstruation, but they are very weak. Al-Dubayyān – may Allāh preserve him – mentioned them in his book “Ahkām al-Hayd” (1/134) and what follows it; for this reason some of the Imāms who were mentioned previously took them (as evidence), but they are severely weak, rather some of them are fabricated (mawdūʿah).
See: “al-Awsat” (2/227), “Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ” by al-Marwazī (37), “al-Mughnī” (1/308), “al-Majmūʿ” (2/408), “al-Fatāwā” (19/237), “Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn” (1/371), Ibn Rajab (2/150-153), “al-Sayl” (1/337), and “al-Sharh al-Mumtiʿ” (1/471).”
(Above taken from Miskul-Khitām Sharh ‘Umdatul-Ahkām 1/246-247)
Shaykh ul-Islām ibn Taymiyyah said:
“Among that is the term “menstruation” (al-hayd), Allāh has attached to it multiple rulings in the Book and the Sunnah, and He did not specify either its minimum or its maximum… So whoever specifies a limit in that has contradicted the Book and the Sunnah… And the third opinion is more correct; that there is no limit, neither for its minimum, nor for its maximum, rather whatever the woman sees as a continuous habit, then it is menstruation – even if it is estimated/supposed that it is less than a day (and even if) it’s estimated/supposed that its maximum is seventeen (days) – (if) it continues with her in that manner, then it is (considered) menstruation.” (Ikhtiyarāt of Ibn Taymiyyah 2/162-175 – referencing Majmu al-Fatāwā 19/237)
Shaykh Al-Albānī said:
“As for the days (of menstruation), there is no specification for them. They differ from one woman to another. And in another jurisprudential expression: There is no minimum or maximum limit for menstruation. So some women may see blood for hours during the day, then nothing after that. And many of them see (it for) seven, eight, ten (days)… etc.” (Jāmi’ Turāth Fī al-Fiqh 1/496)
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