Section: If the black blood is not varied—such as if she sees three [days] of black blood every month, then it becomes red and exceeds the maximum duration of menstruation—then the black blood alone is menstruation. If it does not exceed the maximum duration of menstruation, all the blood is menstruation, because it is blood that could possibly be menstrual, so it is menstrual, just as if it were all red. If it is varied—such as if she sees five days of black blood in the first month, four in the second, and three in the third; or five in the first, six in the second, and seven in the third; or five in the first, four in the second, and six in the third; or other variations—then according to our view, the black blood is menstruation in every case. According to al-Qadi’s view, the black blood is menstruation only when it conforms to the habit, which is three in the first, five in the second, and four in the third; what exceeds that, if it is repeated, is menstruation, and if it is not repeated, it is not menstruation. According to his view, she does not observe from it in the first and second month except for the certainty that one without a 'distinction' (tamyiz) would observe. If she is a beginner (mubtada'ah), she only observes one day and one night. Does she observe that which is repeated in the third or fourth month? This depends on the two narrations regarding how the habit is established. Her ruling is the ruling of the beginner who sees blood that does not exceed the maximum duration of menstruation: the red blood here is like the state of purity there, and the black blood is like the blood there. If she is forgetful (nasiyah) and the black blood appears in the middle of the month, and we have said that she observes it from the beginning of the month, [she observes here from the beginning of the month] (12) what the forgetful woman observes even if it is red, and she does not shift to the black [blood] until it is repeated; when it is repeated, she shifts to it, and we know that it is menstruation, so she makes up for the obligatory fasts she performed during it.

Section: If she sees black blood between two periods of red blood or red blood between two periods of black blood, and it ceases before the maximum duration of menstruation, all of it is menstruation if it is repeated, because the red [blood] is more similar to menstruation than the state of purity. If it exceeds the maximum duration of menstruation, and the black blood alone is fit to be menstruation, then it is menstruation, and the red blood entirely is irregular bleeding (istihadah), because the first red [blood] is more similar to the second red [blood] which we ruled to be irregular bleeding. She should combine (talfiq) the black blood with the black blood, so it becomes menstruation. There is no difference between the black blood being...