Sex during post-partum bleeding
23-5-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
My question is regarding sex during post partum bleeding. Since the bleeding is not a period, is it considered Haram to have intercourse during this time?
Answer:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
When a woman gives birth to a child it becomes Haram to have sexual intercourse with her until she becomes pure. If she usually becomes pure by being dry or by noticing the coming out of a white liquid that a woman sees at the end of the menstruation period or at the end of the recovering period after giving birth, then she should not let her husband have sexual intercourse with her until one of these two matters occur. But if she usually becomes pure by noticing just one of these two matters, then she also should not let her husband have sexual intercourse with her until she sees that.
This is, of course, in case the bleeding does not exceed the period of forty days. However, if it does, then this is not considered as post-partum bleeding, because according to the majority of the people of knowledge the maximum length of the post-partum bleeding is forty days. According to the Hadith of Um-Salamah (Radiya Allahu Anha) she said, "That during the era of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) women after delivering a baby observed a period of forty days." [Reported by Tirmizi and others]
Therefore, it is Haram for the husband and wife to have sexual intercourse in the vagina during this period as long as the woman does not completely become pure according to her usual circumstances.