Question:
If a woman is fasting and menstruation begins in the evening or afternoon, is her fast valid? Does she have to make it up later?
Answer:
Some people are asking: If menstruation occurs in the evening or afternoon while one is fasting, does that fast become invalid, and does it need to be repeated?
They are asking. Regarding fasting, according to general Islamic law, when a woman is menstruating, she must not perform two acts of worship. One is that she must not pray. As long as she is in that state.
The other is that she must not fast. Regarding fasting, the fasts missed during menstruation must be made up later at some other time. Regarding prayer, the prayers missed during menstruation do not need to be made up later. That is the meaning: she does not perform them. The reason for abandoning the prayer during menstruation is…
What does the narration in Muslim state? It states that… She is commanded to fast, but she is not commanded to make up the prayer. So, if she misses prayer during menstruation, she does not have to repeat it. If she misses a fast during menstruation, what must she do later?
The hadith states that the missed fasts must be made up in some other month. So, what does this clarify? It clarifies that menstruation is not a valid state for fasting. A person who is menstruating cannot fast. So, if menstruation occurs in the afternoon while you are fasting, you cannot continue fasting. It is not a fast; it must be broken. It becomes invalid. If it occurs in Ramadan, even if it occurs for a short while, it is not a fast. Thats it.
So, there is evidence that a person experiencing menstruation cannot continue as a fasting person. If this is the case, if menstruation occurs and then ends, let’s assume it came and then ended, that fast is not valid. If it occurs five minutes before Iftar (the time to break the fast), then that fast is invalid. If you say that menstruation came five minutes before Iftar, then that fast is invalidated.
You must perform that fast (as a make-up later). Regarding that fast, no matter what time menstruation occurs, you cannot continue fasting immediately. Similarly, you must not fast while menstruating. Thats it. So, what should she do? She should immediately break the fast and consider herself not fasting. After it occurs, this is a missed fast. What should she do? She must add it to the count of missed fasts and make it up later. That is all.