If a woman’s nifaas ends before forty days, she should do ghusl and pray and fast
Question My wife gave birth around the 15th of Sha’baan. Is it permissible for her to pray, fast, do ‘umrah, read Qur’aan and do all other duties prescribed in Islam when the nifaas (post-partum bleeding) stops and she is sure of that, or should she wait for 40 days as some people say?. Answer Praise be to Allaah. The majority of scholars, including the four imams, are of the view that there is no minimum limit for nifaas. Whenever a woman becomes pure from nifaas, she has to do ghusl and pray and fast, even if that is before forty days have passed since the birth. Because no precise definition has been narrated in sharee’ah with regard to the minimum length of nifaas, so the matter should be based on experience, which shows that nifaas may be very short or it may be long. - Ibn Qudaamah in al-Mughni, 1/428. Some of the scholars narrated that there was consensus on this point. Al-Tirmidhi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The scholars among the companions of the Prophet ...