Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
A woman has to stop fasting when she experiences menstruation, which occurs in the normal period and has the features of menstrual bleeding.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
You only need to stay away from fasting if the bleeding occurs in your regular period, or you have reasons to consider as belonging to menses (because of its color or texture, etc.)
The ritual ghusl following the expiry of menses should be when the bleeding has stopped.
You are free of menses only when your bleeding has completely stopped, and you see the white discharge following your regular pattern.
However, after you have seen the white blood, if you experience pinkish or brownish discharges, you need not worry.
Umm Atiyyah, the Prophet’s Companion, said, “During the Prophet’s time, we never used to pay attention to the pinkish or brownish blood that followed the expiry of menses.” (Al-Bukhari and Others)
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.