If a woman has a miscarriage in the third month of her pregnancy

Question: A year ago, I had a miscarriage in my third month of pregnancy. I stopped praying until the blood stopped. It was said to me that I should have prayed. What should I do now since I do not know the exact number of days I did not pray?

Response: What is well-known and accepted among the scholars is that if a woman has a miscarriage in the third month, she does not pray. This is because when the woman has such a miscarriage the fetus has clear signs of being a human. Therefore, the blood that then flows is considered post-partum bleeding and the woman does not pray. The scholars say that fetus take on the shape of a human after eighty-one days, which is less than three months. If you are certain that you had a miscarriage after three months, the blood that came was post-partum bleeding. However, if it were before eighty days, then the blood that came is irregular or abnormal blood and she should not leave the prayer due to it. So the one who asked the question must see if the miscarriage was before eighty days, in which case she must make up the prayers she missed. If she does not know how many days she missed, she must estimate the matter and make up what she believes she has missed.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen
Fataawa al-Mar.ah