Islamic Center of Southern California

The Arguments of Islamic Law Rulings on Recent Medical Issues

Topic Twenty Four

Minimum and Maximum Duration of Puerperium

Definition

Puerperium is the period that follows childbirth. Certain physical changes occur in this period, restoring the genital system to its normal, pre-pregnancy condition.

The puerperal liquid is the secretions of the uterus that follow childbirth. In the first four days, it is blood, then it gradually turns lighter in color and less in quantity. Within ten days, it becomes a colorless mucus that might continue to be secreted for as long as four weeks.

The Legal Position Chosen by the IOMS and Its Argument

One of the recommendations of the third seminar, held in 1987, is as follows:

The Minimum and Maximum Duration of the Puerperal Period

The medical input at the seminar tends to agree with certain views of jurisprudence (fiqh) scholars, which hold that puerperium is what a woman discharges after childbirth or abortion until the location where the placenta exists before it is expelled out of the uterus cavity heals. It begins as blood, then turns into a yellowish liquid, and finally stops.

It has no minimal limit, and, normally, its maximum duration is six weeks. If it exceeds that, it is abnormal and is classified as false menstruation. This abnormal condition might be caused by remains of the placenta in the uterus, by the uterus being too weak for adequate contractions to withhold the blood, or by some other cause that needs to be diagnosed and treated. The puerperal period may end in menstruation or in a long or short free-from-menstruation period. Islamic Center of Southern California