My period stopped for a day, then the bleeding came back. Do I pray?

If the bleeding stops completely for a while in the middle of your usual period and then comes back, the four schools do not give one answer. The Malikis and Hanbalis treat clear dryness as purity: you make ghusl, pray and fast, and you stop again if the blood returns. The Hanafis and Shafi'is, in the better-known view, treat the dry gap as part of the period, so you keep not praying until the bleeding has really ended. A short dry spell with traces of blood is not purity in any of the schools, and Ibn Qudamah (Hanbali) adds that a gap of less than a day needs a sign to count.

What the texts say

• The Qur'an calls menstruation "adha", a harm or impurity, and tells husbands to keep away from women "until they are pure": ﴿وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًى فَاعْتَزِلُوا النِّسَاءَ فِي الْمَحِيضِ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّىٰ يَطْهُرْنَ﴾ "They ask you about menstruation. Say: it is a harm, so keep away from women during menstruation and do not approach them until they are pure" (al-Baqarah 2:222). Those who count dryness as purity reason that the ruling follows the cause: where there is blood it is menstruation, where there is dryness it is purity (IslamQA, answer 364246).
• Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh (radi Allahu 'anha) was told by the Prophet (Salla Allahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam): "When the menstrual period comes, leave the prayer; when it goes, wash the blood from yourself and pray" (narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim, from 'A'ishah). The question between the schools is whether a pause in the flow is "it goes".
• Women used to send 'A'ishah (radi Allahu 'anha) small cases with a piece of cotton showing yellowish traces, and she would say: "Do not hurry until you see the white discharge" (Malik in al-Muwatta; al-Bukhari mentions it in his chapter on the coming and going of menstruation). This is the basis for checking with cotton; see how to know your period has ended for the two signs.
• Ibn 'Abbas (radi Allahu 'anhuma) is reported as saying that if a woman sees purity for an hour she should make ghusl, but if she sees thick blood she does not pray (cited by IslamQA, answer 65852).

What each school says

• Malikis and Hanbalis (talfiq, "patching"): the days of blood are menstruation and the clean stretch between them is purity. On the main view even an hour of complete dryness is enough. If the cotton comes out with any trace of blood, the period has not ended, at the start or at the end of it. If it comes out clean you make ghusl, pray and fast, and if the blood returns you stop again (IslamQA, answers 65852 and 364246, citing Matalib Uli al-Nuha 1/260 and Kashshaf al-Qina' 1/204). The Permanent Committee (Saudi Arabia) gave the same ruling for bleeding that stops for a day or a night. Ibn Qudamah says in al-Mughni that a gap of less than a day is not purity unless there is a sign, such as it falling at the end of her usual days or a white discharge appearing, and calls this the sounder view.
• Hanafis and Shafi'is (sahb, "drawing"): the clean gap between two bloods is itself menstruation, provided the whole stretch stays within the maximum for hayd in that school; see what counts as hayd for the limits. Al-Nawawi, in Rawdat al-Talibin, calls the drawing view the more prominent of two Shafi'i views and gives the other, patching, as the second. He also says the ordinary pause between flows counts as menstruation without disagreement, and that a pause which leaves traces on the cotton is a fatrah, not purity. Under the drawing view, if you fasted on the dry day and the blood came back within the period, that day is made up.
• Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn 'Uthaymeen: Ibn Taymiyyah held that purity which interrupts the period is not counted during it, so you do not pray or fast until you are fully clean. Ibn 'Uthaymeen took a break of a day or less as part of the period and favoured Ibn Taymiyyah's view, noting that dryness of 20 to 24 hours is common for women and is not purity (IslamQA, answer 367578).

What this means for you

1. If the cotton shows any blood or yellow-brown trace, you are still in your period in every school. Keep waiting.
2. If there is complete dryness or the white discharge, a Maliki or Hanbali woman makes ghusl and prays and fasts; see ghusl after hayd. A Hanafi or Shafi'i woman keeps counting it as menstruation while the whole stretch is within the maximum, and prays when it has truly ended.
3. If the blood comes back in the form of menstrual blood, it is menstruation. If it does not look like menstrual blood but falls in your usual days, IslamQA (answer 367578) still counts it as menstruation. If it does not look like it and falls outside your usual days, it is istihadah and you pray; see how to tell istihadah from hayd.
4. Fasts you missed because blood returned are made up; see how to count the fasts you owe. If it happens during Ramadan, if your period ends during a Ramadan day covers the neighbouring case.

Because the schools differ, follow the school you normally follow, and keep to it for the whole period rather than switching mid-cycle. Writing down the day and time the blood stopped and returned makes this much easier to settle; a period tracker for Muslim women that lets you log what you saw, not only a date, helps.

This page is a study aid compiled from cited classical sources. It is not a fatwa. For your own situation, ask a scholar you trust.

If you are seeing blood again after a period that had ended, bleeding after your period has ended covers the common causes and when to call a doctor.