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Fatwa CenterRulings Related to Menstruation and Prayer
Question
I have questions regarding menstruation/ spotting and prayer.1. I usually get my period for 6 days and do ghusl in the evening of the 6th. Sometimes in the last day I bleed sometimes no. In the event of not bleeding, do I need to pray the prayers that I missed ? 2. Yesterday, my period started. There was no more blood up until the afternoon today. Do I need to pray the Salah that I missed in that time? 3. If I get my period after maghrib, but I hadn’t prayed the maghrib, do I need to pray it
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The basic rule is that a woman should perform Ghusl (ritual bath) and begin praying as soon as she sees one of the two signs of ritual purity; white discharge or complete dryness.
Some scholars allowed woman who sees dryness (as a sign of ritual purity) to wait for half a day or so to confirm that the bleeding has truly stopped, since it is common for menstrual blood to pause and then resume. However, since the bleeding did not return in your case, you are required to make up the prayers you missed during the period of time after seeing the sign of ritual purity, as it has become clear that you were actually pure from the time the blood stopped.
If a woman becomes clean, she should perform Ghusl, and resume praying, then if the blood returns afterwards, she is once again considered menstruating, as long as the returning blood occurs within a time frame that can still be considered as menstruation (i.e. within the period of fifteen days since the start of recent menstruation).
As for delayed bleeding beyond the usual time, what counts in determining menstruation is the actual presence of blood, not merely the expected time. So, if a woman's usual period occurs but she does not see any blood, she is considered pure and must pray and fast, according to the consensus of scholars. Therefore, she must make up any prayers missed before the appearance of blood, even if that was during her usual period time.
Lastly, in the situation when your period begins after the time of Maghrib has started but before you perform the prayer, the scholars differ on whether making up the prayer is required. The stronger opinion is that it is not obligatory to make up for it, this is the view of the Hanafis, Malikis and it is the view chosen by Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah 
. However, the view that it is necessary to make up for it, is more cautious, and it is the opinion of the Shafi’is and Hanbalis. So, if you wish to be on the safe side, you should make up for that prayer after becoming pure.
Allah knows best.
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