Istihada is bleeding that does not meet the criteria of hayd or nifas. Unlike hayd, a woman in istihada continues to pray and fast. But she must perform additional purifications that scale with the volume of bleeding.
When bleeding counts as istihada (per A. Sistani)
- Bleeding shorter than three continuous days (A. Sistani 439).
- Bleeding beyond the ten-day hayd ceiling (A. Sistani 438).
- Bleeding occurring within ten days of a previous hayd (A. Sistani 492).
- Bleeding at any age outside menarche-to-menopause range (A. Sistani 433, 434).
The three tiers (A. Sistani, A. Khamenei)
Per A. Sistani’s Islamic Laws:
- Qalīla (slight). Blood does not soak through the absorbent. One wudu per prayer. (A. Sistani 392)
- Mutawassiṭa (medium). Blood soaks the absorbent but does not pass through. One ghusl per day (pre-Fajr cascade) plus one wudu per prayer. If she misses the Fajr ghusl, she must perform it before Zuhr+Asr and Maghrib+Isha. (A. Sistani 393)
- Kathīra (heavy). Blood soaks through the absorbent. Three ghusls per day. Fajr alone, Zuhr+Asr combined, Maghrib+Isha combined. The ghusl replaces wudu. She must change the absorbent before each prayer. (A. Sistani 394)
A. Makarem Shirazi recognises only two tiers (Qalīla and Kathīra), folding what A. Sistani / A. Khamenei call Mutawassiṭa into Kathīra. This is one of the marja-divergence points the Tuhr app handles automatically.
Practical implication
If a Shia woman is in istihada and skips the daily ghusl required by her tier, the prayers she then performs are invalid. The ritual stakes are real, which is why apps that classify Shia bleeding under generic / Hanafi rules can quietly cause a woman to perform invalid prayers for years.
Primary sources
- A. Sistani · 438 Hayd duration: 3 to 10 days
Ḥayḍ cannot last for less than three days or more than ten days; if bleeding lasts for even a little less than three days, it is not ḥayḍ.
- A. Sistani · 439 First three days of hayd must be continuous
The first three days of ḥayḍ must be continuous; therefore, 46 A sayyidah is a female descendant of Hāshim, the great grandfather of Prophet Muḥammad (Ṣ). 47 This is explained in Ruling 468. if, for example, a woman experiences bleeding for two days, and then the bleeding stops for one day, and then she experiences bleeding again for one day, it is not ḥayḍ.
- A. Sistani · 492 Ten clear days separate two distinct hayds
If a woman who usually experiences bleeding once a month experiences bleeding twice in one month, then in the event that the number of days on which her bleeding stops in between is not less than ten, she must consider both bleedings to be ḥayḍ even if one of them does not have the attributes of ḥayḍ.
- A. Sistani · 433 Menopause threshold. Sixty lunar years
The bleeding that women above the age of sixty expe rience is not ruled to be ḥayḍ; however, a woman can experience ḥayḍ between the age of fifty and sixty, although the recommended precaution is that women who are not Qurayshi (sayyidah)46 and who experience bleeding which would previously have been ruled to be ḥayḍ [i.e. had they experienced it before the age of fifty, it would have been ruled to be ḥayḍ], should refrain from doing the things that are unlawful for a ḥāʾiḍ to do and perform the duties of a mustaḥāḍah.
- A. Sistani · 392 Slight istihada (qalīla). One wudu per prayer
For slight istiḥāḍah, a woman must perform one wuḍūʾ for every prayer and she must wash the outside of the vagina with water if there is blood there. And based on recommended precaution, she should purify the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/ another absorbent item] with water or change it for every prayer.
- A. Sistani · 393 Medium istihada (mutawassiṭa). One ghusl per day plus wudu
For medium istiḥāḍah, a woman must, based on obliga tory precaution, perform one ghusl daily for her prayers, and she must do the things that were mentioned in the previous ruling with regard to slight istiḥāḍah. Therefore, if she experiences medium istiḥāḍah before or during morning (ṣubḥ) prayers, she must perform ghusl for ṣubḥ prayers based on obligatory precaution. If she intentionally or forgetfully does not perform ghusl for ṣubḥ prayers, she must perform ghusl for midday (ẓuhr) and afternoon (ʿaṣr) prayers. And if she does not perform ghusl for ẓuhr and ʿaṣr prayers, she must perform ghusl before prayers after sunset (maghrib) and evening (ʿishāʾ) prayers, whether the bleeding has stopped or not.
- A. Sistani · 394 Heavy istihada (kathīra). Three ghusls per day
For excessive istiḥāḍah, a woman must, based on obligatory precaution, change or purify with water the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/another absorbent item]. It is also necessary for her to perform one ghusl for ṣubḥ prayers, one for ẓuhr and ʿaṣr prayers, and one for maghrib and ʿishāʾ prayers. Furthermore, she must not delay between ẓuhr and ʿaṣr prayers nor between maghrib and ʿishāʾ prayers; if she delays between them, she must perform ghusl again for ʿaṣr and ʿishāʾ prayers. All of this applies when blood continuously soaks the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/another absorbent item] and reaches the bottom of it. However, in the event that there is a delay in the blood soaking the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/another absorbent item] and reaching the bottom of it to the extent that the woman can perform one or more prayers in that time, the obligatory precaution is that whenever the blood soaks the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/another absorbent item] and reaches the bottom of it, she must change or purify it with water and perform ghusl. Therefore, if a woman performs ghusl and, for example, she performs ẓuhr prayers but before ʿaṣr prayers or during ʿaṣr prayers blood soaks the piece of cotton [or sanitary pad/another absorbent item] and reaches the bottom of it, then again, she must perform ghusl for ʿaṣr prayers based on obligatory precaution. However, in the event that the delay is to the extent that in that time, the woman can perform two or more prayers – for example, she can perform maghrib and ʿishāʾ prayers before blood reaches the bottom of it again – then for those prayers [i.e. maghrib and ʿishāʾ], it is not necessary for her to perform another ghusl. In each case, for excessive istiḥāḍah, ghusl suffices in place of wuḍūʾ.