Question :

If a woman had delivered her first twin and six months later, she delivered her second, and there was bleeding after both deliveries. What is the ruling onthat bleeding? Is it Nifaas(Postpartum bleeding) in both cases?

The Answer :

Twins are two babies in one pregnancy. If the time interval between the delivery of the first and secondtwins is six months, then "they are, as agreed by all scholars-two pregnancies and two instances of Nifaas(Postpartum bleeding)", said An-Nawawi in {Al-Majmou`, V.2/P.543}.

However, if the time interval between the delivery of the first and second twins was less than six months, scholars have disagreed about the ruling on the bleeding between the two deliveries and aboutdetermining the beginning of Nifaas. Does it start after the first delivery or the second? Shafie jurists stipulate that Nifaas starts after the uterus is emptied of everything, and the blood that comes between the delivery of the twins doesn`t meet this condition. Therefore, they haven`t ruled that it is Nifaas. According to their reliable opinion, it is menstruation. They have based this view on the statement of Al-Shirbini(May Allah have mercy on him): "The bleeding between the delivery of the first and second twins is menstruation"{Moghni Al-Mohtajj, 1/119}.
Nevertheless, the Iftaa` Department doesn`t adopt this view because modern medicine has proven that the pregnant woman doesn`t menstruate, and that the bleeding between the delivery of the first and second twins is Nifaas. Accordingly, we adopt the view of the majority of the scholars: Abu Hanifah, Malik, Ahmad and one opinion of the Shafie school that was approved by Al-Ghazali and Imam Al-Haramain Al-Juwaini, and it states: "Nifaas begins after the delivery of the first twin."

Moreover, Nifaas ends after sixteen days from the delivery of the second twin, as ruled by the Shafie jurists, and this is the reliable opinion of the Iftaa` Department and what contemporary physiciansconsider more probable.