Ruling concerning a miscarriage

Question: Some women have miscarriages. Sometimes the fetus comes out fully formed while at another times it does not. I would like you to make clear the ruling for prayer in both of those situations.

Response: If a woman has a miscarriage and the fetus has clearly human figures to it, such as a head, hand, leg and so forth, then her bleeding is post-natal bleeding. She follows the rulings of post-natal bleeding. She does not pray or fast and her husband cannot have sexual intercourse with her until the bleeding stops or she completes forty days. If the bleeding stops before the 40th day, she must make ghusl, pray, fast during Ramadhaan and her husband may have sexual intercourse with her. There is no minimum length of time for post-partum bleeding. The bleeding could stop after ten days, more or less, and then she must make ghusl and all the laws of a ritually pure person apply to her. If she sees any blood after the fortieth day, it is considered bleeding from illness. She would then fast and pray with that bleeding and it is permissible for her husband to have intercourse with her. She must make ablution for the time of every prayer, like the mustahaadhah, as the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) told Faatimah bint Abu Hubaysh, "Make ablution for the time of every prayer." If the blood that flows from her after the forty-day period coincides with the time of her menses, then it takes on the ruling of menses.

It is forbidden for her to pray or fast until she becomes pure. And it is forbidden for her husband to have intercourse with her. However, if what comes out of the woman does not resemble a human being, such as when it is simply a smooth lump of flesh or clot of blood, then she takes the ruling of istihaadhah and not that of post-partum bleeding. She should pray, fast during Ramadhaan and may have intercourse with her husband. She should make ablution for the time of every prayer while keeping herself clean from the blood by a panty liner or something similar, like the mustahaadhah, until the bleeding stops. She may also combine the Zhuhr and ‘Asr prayers together and the Maghrib and Isha prayers together. She may also make a ghusl for the combined prayers and a separate ghusl for the Fajr prayer based on the confirmed hadeeth of Hamnah bint Jahsh. This is because she is to be treated like a mustahaadhah according to the people of knowledge.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz
Fataawa al-Mar.ah