Saturday 23 Muḥarram 1447 - 19 July 2025
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What to Do If Your Period Returns after Ghusl and Intimacy?

Question

My wife thought she completed her menses (although earlier than normal) and began praying. I then went to her. After the fajr prayer the next day.  She then made ghusl and prayed Dhuhr. Is there any sin on me or my wife, and if so do I have to make kaffarah?

Summary of answer

If you  mistakenly thought your period ended, did ghusl, had intercourse, then bleeding resumed, there is no sin if purity signs were observed. Once bleeding resumes, the rulings of menstruation apply, including abstaining from prayer and intercourse.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

If a woman thinks it most likely that her period has finished, and she sees the signs of Taharah (being pure, i.e., after the period has ended), so she does Ghusl, prays and has intercourse with her husband, then there is no sin on her for having intercourse, because it is an action that is permissible. What is forbidden is to have intercourse at the time of menstruation.

If the menstrual blood comes back, then she is considered to be menstruating and she is not allowed to pray or have intercourse with her husband, because when the menstrual blood is flowing, the rulings attached to it apply . Its signs or features are well known to women, so a woman should not be too hasty in doing Ghusl and starting to pray until she sees the white discharge which is the sign of purity, or she is completely dry in the case of one who does not experience the white discharge. Cessation of bleeding alone does not mean that she is now clean, rather she is clean when she sees the sign of purity and when the usual time for her period to end has come.

For more details, please refer to the following answers: 11963, 78396, 146, 12662, 83172

And Allah knows best.

Source: Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid