Question

I am single and my menstrual cycle is normal every month. My problem is that the cycle starts with a yellowish to dark brown discharge. This sometimes lasts for three or four days, accompanied by pain in the lower abdomen, intense nervousness and a deteriorated psychological state. Then red blood appears for five to seven days.
Then it turns brown again and becomes yellowish. A day or two after the yellowish blood appears, a white liquid appears, announcing the ritual cleanliness. Sometimes the yellowish blood continues to appear until the beginning of the next menstrual cycle or throughout the month.
My question is: When do I have to start praying again? When should I refrain from it? When should I observe or abstain from fasting?

Praise be to Allah

Firstly, the yellow or dark discharge that precedes the blood of menstruation is not part of it. The same is true of the discharge that occurs after the return of cleanliness, taking into account the saying of Umm Atiyya (pbuh): We did not take into account the yellow and dark discharges appearing after the state of ritual cleanliness was established. (Reported by Abu Dawud, 307). And considered authentic by al-Albani in Irwaa al-Ghalil,199.

As for the yellow and dark discharge that follows menstruation and appears before the end of menstruation, it is part of menstruation, considering the hadith that Malick reported in al-Muwatta according to Umm Alqamah who said: « Women used to send to Aisha, the mother of the believers, a box containing cotton with yellow traces of menstruation in it in order to ask her if they could go back to praying. She would tell them, ‘Don’t rush, wait until you see the white discharge. (Reported by al-Bokhari in a suspended manner in the book on menstruation: chapter on the onset and end of menstruation and deemed authentic by al-Albani in Irwaa al-Ghalil,198.

The term durdja refers to a small box in which a woman keeps her perfume and other gadgets. See an-Nihaya by Ibn al-Athir,2/246. The term kursuf means cotton.

However, the yellow or dark discharge that you see for three or four days before your period begins is not part of it and therefore should not prevent you from praying and fasting. The dark and red blood that appears after it and the yellow blood are menstrual, and this applies until you see the white discharge or the white liquid or until you see complete dryness.

Once you have seen the white discharge or complete dryness, any other yellow or dark discharge is not part of your period. See question #171945 and question #157020 and question #82507.

Secondly, if the red blood and the yellowish or dark discharge that follows it appear before the white discharge or the complete drying up and if the duration of all this exceeds 15 days, you are facing irregular bleeding. Some scholars believe that this is only the case when this situation lasts for most of the month or all but two or three days. This is the choice of Shaykh al-Islam ibn Taymiyyah and those who agree with him and think that the menstrual cycle does not have a maximum duration. The opinion of these people is the best argued.

If you find that you are facing irregular bleeding, you have to conform in the second month to your old habits. You wait for the duration of your normal cycle until the white liquid (sign of the recovery of ritual cleanliness) that you mentioned in the question appears. Then you take a ritual bath. If you had a normal cycle of 10 days before the irregular bleeding, you take the said bath at the end of the tenth day and perform your ablutions for each prayer.

The one who did not have a regular cycle before the onset of normal bleeding, should strive to distinguish the blood. This has already been explained in the answer to question 68818. We advise you to consult a specialist in the treatment of irregular bleeding.

Allah knows best.