1/128. Chapter:
Sunan Ibn Majah 648 — Postnatal Bleeding Forty Days
How long should women in postnatal bleeding wait (before praying, etc.)?
Postnatal Bleeding Forty Days: A Hadith from Umm Salamah
Sunan Ibn Majah : 648
Sunan Ibn MajahHadith Number 648
حَدَّثَنَا نَصْرُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ الْجَهْضَمِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا شُجَاعُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ، عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى، عَنْ أَبِي سَهْلٍ، عَنْ مُسَّةَ الأَزْدِيَّةِ، عَنْ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ، قَالَتْ كَانَتِ النُّفَسَاءُ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ تَجْلِسُ أَرْبَعِينَ يَوْمًا وَكُنَّا نَطْلِي وُجُوهَنَا بِالْوَرْسِ مِنَ الْكَلَفِ .
Umm Salamah Narrated from:
At the time of the Messenger of Allah, women in postnatal bleeding (after childbirth) used to wait for forty days, and we used to put Wars on our faces because of freckles.
[1] See no. 466.Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 648In-book reference : Book 1, Hadith 382English translation : Vol. 1, Book 1, Hadith 648
Summary of Sunan Ibn Majah Hadith 648
This hadith about postnatal bleeding gives a time practice from the time of the Messenger of Allah. Umm Salamah said that women in nifas, meaning postnatal bleeding after childbirth, used to wait for forty days. She also mentioned that they would put Wars on their faces because of freckles. The core teaching is the reported waiting period of forty days for postnatal bleeding. The narration does not explain every medical situation or every possible early end, so the explanation should not add details from outside this text. For searches like nifas forty days hadith, this narration gives the main wording clearly.
What we learn from this hadith
- Women in postnatal bleeding are reported to have waited forty days at that time.
- The narration connects nifas with the period after childbirth.
- Umm Salamah reports a practice from the time of the Prophet.
- The text also records the use of Wars for freckles without making it the main ruling.
