Does a Woman Have to Make Up a Prayer If She Begins Menstruating After Entering The Time Of The Prayer?
Question: Salam wa alakium, if one were to get her menses after a prayer starts and didn’t pray said prayer is this prayer meant to be made up? JazakAllahu Khairun
Summary:
If the time for a prayer enters and a woman begins menstruating before performing it, then if enough time had passed for her to have been able to perform the prayer but she delayed it until menstruation began, the majority of the scholars hold that she must make up that prayer after becoming pure. However, if menstruation begins immediately after the prayer time enters, before she has had an opportunity to perform the prayer, then the stronger view is that she is not required to make it up, because she did not have sufficient time in which she was able to perform the obligatory prayer.
Answer:
This issue is one over which the scholars have differed.
First: The Evidence from the Sunnah
From the Sunnah:
- Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.Aishah رضي الله عنها said:
"We used to experience that" — meaning menstruation — "and we were commanded to make up the fasts, but we were not commanded to make up the prayers."
This hadith establishes the principle that a woman does not make up the prayers she misses during menstruation.
However, the point of disagreement concerns a prayer whose time had already begun before menstruation started. Second: The View of the Majority of the Scholars: The majority of the jurists from the Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools held that if the time for a prayer begins, and the woman has enough time to perform it, but delays it until menstruation begins, then she must make up that prayer after becoming pure. This is because she had reached part of its time during which she was able to perform it, so the obligation became established upon her.
From the Scholars:
- Imam Ibn Qudamah رحمه الله said:
"The prayer becomes obligatory at the beginning of its time for one who is legally obligated. As for those with excuses, such as a menstruating woman... it becomes obligatory for them upon the first part of the prayer time that they reach after their excuse has ceased."
- Third: The View of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin رحمه الله
Regarding this issue, he said: "If menstruation begins after the time for the prayer has entered... then after she becomes pure from menstruation, she should make up that prayer whose time entered while she was still pure." He then cited the saying of Allah, the Exalted: "Indeed, prayer has been prescribed upon the believers at fixed times." (Surah An-Nisa, 4:103)
- Fourth: The Fatwa of Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Baz رحمه الله
He was asked: If a woman begins menstruating after the time for a prayer has entered, must she make up that prayer after she becomes pure? He replied: "There is a difference of opinion among the scholars. Some said that she must make it up, while others said that she does not. Some held that if the prayer time had become short and she delayed the prayer, then she was negligent and must make it up. But if menstruation began during the prayer time or at its beginning, and she had not been negligent, then the stronger view is that she is not required to make it up unless she had been negligent—that is, she delayed the prayer until its time had nearly expired. In that case, she must make it up in all circumstances. As for the one who was not negligent, but menstruation began during the prayer time while she had not delayed it carelessly, then the matter is broad. If she makes it up, as some of the scholars held, there is no harm. And if she does not make it up, then there is also no harm, Allah willing, because there was no negligence on her part."
Conclusion: If the time for a prayer enters, and enough time passes for a woman to perform purification and the prayer, then she begins menstruating before praying, she must make up that prayer after becoming pure according to the majority of the scholars. However, if menstruation begins immediately after the prayer time enters, before she has had the opportunity to perform the prayer, then the stronger opinion is that she is not required to make it up. As for prayers whose time entered while she was already menstruating, she is not required to make them up, based on the hadith of Aishah رضي الله عنها
And Allah knows best.
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