Quick answer
What is nifās (postpartum bleeding)?
Nifās is bleeding classified as postpartum bleeding in fiqh. During nifās prayer and fasting pause; when purity is established, ghusl is performed and worship resumes. Maximum-duration rules differ by madhhab.
Nifās is the blood that flows from the womb following childbirth. It is treated similarly to ḥayḍ in worship: during nifās a woman does not pray or fast, may not perform ṭawāf, and the same rulings on recitation and intimacy apply.
Nifās begins with the bleeding that accompanies or follows birth. There is no fixed minimum — if a woman bleeds only a few days and then sees the signs of purity, her nifās has ended and she performs ghusl and resumes worship immediately.
The report of Umm Salamah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhā) describes a forty-day practice (Sunan Abi Dawud and al-Tirmidhi), while the schools’ maximum-duration rules are not identical. Well-known Hanafi and Hanbali positions use 40 days; well-known Maliki and Shafi‘i positions use 60 days.
Bleeding beyond the applicable maximum is handled under the selected madhhab’s method rather than one universal rule. A medical description of postpartum bleeding and its fiqh classification remain distinct questions.
This summary draws on the established positions of the four Sunni madhhabs. For your specific situation, consult a qualified scholar.
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Postpartum bleeding (nifās) in Islam