Section: If the woman who had forgotten her habit recalls it after having observed a waiting period during a time other than her actual habit, she returns to her habit; because her abandonment of it was due to the impediment of forgetfulness, so when the impediment is removed, she returns to the original state. If it becomes clear that she had abandoned prayer during a time other than her habit, she is required to repeat it, and she is also required to make up for the obligatory fasts she performed during her habit. For example, if her habit was three days from the end of the first ten days, but she sat for the seven days prior to it, then remembered, she is obligated to make up for the prayers and obligatory fasts she abandoned during the seven days, and also to make up for the obligatory fasts she performed during the three days; because she performed them during her menstrual cycle.

95 - Issue; He said: (The woman experiencing initial menstruation [al-mubtada'ah] exercises caution, so she observes a day and a night, performs ghusl [ritual bathing], and performs wudu [ablution] for every prayer, and then she prays. If her blood flow ceases within fifteen days, she performs ghusl upon its cessation, and she does the same a second and third time. If the duration is the same, she acts upon it and repeats the fast, if she had fasted during these three times for an obligatory act.)

This is the second type of the fourth category; namely, she who has no habit and no distinction [of blood characteristics]. She is the one whose menstruation has just begun and who has not menstruated before. The well-known view from Ahmad regarding her is that she sits [observing the menstrual rulings] when she sees blood, provided she is of an age capable of menstruation, which is nine (1) years or older, so she abandons fasting and prayer. If the blood exceeds a day and a night, she performs ghusl after the day and night, performs wudu for the time of every prayer, prays, and fasts. If the blood ceases at the maximum duration of menstruation or less, she performs a second ghusl upon its cessation, and she does the same in the second and third month. If the number of days of bleeding in the three months is equal, that becomes her habit; and we know it was menstruation, so she must make up for the obligatory fasts she performed, because it has become clear that she performed them during the time of menstruation. The Qadi said: The school of thought in my view regarding this is a single narration. He said: Our companions establish four narrations regarding the duration that the mubtada'ah sits in the first month: one of them is that she sits for the minimum duration of menstruation, the second is its usual [average] duration, the third is its maximum duration, and the fourth is the habit of her female relatives. He said: This is not the place for the narrations; the place for that is when the blood is continuous and she becomes a mustahadah [woman experiencing persistent irregular bleeding] in the fourth month. It has been transmitted from Ahmad what indicates the correctness of the companions' statement; Salih narrated, saying: My father said: The first time blood starts for a woman, she sits for six or seven days, which is the most that women sit, according to the hadith of Hamna. The apparent meaning of this is that she sits for that during the beginning of her menstruation. And his saying: "the most that women sit" means that this is how most women menstruate. Harb narrated from him, saying: I asked Abu Abd Allah and said: A woman for whom menstruation starts for the first time and the blood continues, how many days does she sit? He said: If there are women like her who menstruate, then if she wishes, she may sit for six or seven days until a menstruation [period] and time becomes clear to her, and if she wishes to exercise caution, she may sit for one day the first time until she clarifies her time. He said in another place: They said this, and they said that, so whichever she adopts is permissible. Al-Khallal narrated, with his chain of narration, from 'Ata' regarding a virgin who experiences istihadah and does not know a cycle for herself: He said: She should look at the cycle of her mother, sister, paternal aunt, or maternal aunt, then she should abandon prayer for the number of those days, perform ghusl, and pray. Hanbal said: Abu Abd Allah said: This is good, and he considered it very excellent. This indicates that he adopted it, and this is the view of 'Ata', al-Thawri, and al-Awza'i. It is also narrated from Ahmad that she sits for the maximum duration of menstruation, except that the famous [view] in the narration from him is like what al-Khiraqi mentioned. Malik, Abu Hanifa, and al-Shafi'i said: She sits for all the days she sees blood therein up to the maximum duration of menstruation. If it ceases at its maximum or less, the whole thing is menstruation; because we ruled that the beginning of the blood is menstruation despite the possibility of it being istihadah, so likewise is its middle. And because we ruled it as being menstruation, we do not invalidate what we have ruled by mere possibility, just as in the case of the one with a habit. And because menstrual blood is blood of inherent nature, while istihadah is blood resulting from an ailment that has occurred or a vein that has ruptured, and the basis regarding her is health and soundness, and that her blood is the blood of nature rather than illness. As for our evidence, sitting for her for more than the minimum menstruation is a ruling that absolves her responsibility from an act of worship obligatory upon her; so it is not ruled upon the first time, like the woman in the waiting period who is not ruled to have had her responsibility for the waiting period absolved by the first menstruation, and the day and night [ruling] does not become binding.