Q: I am a twenty-year-old married woman. My menstrual period used to be late for one to four months before I got married and one year after marriage. However, after the last sexual intercourse I had with my husband, I had bleeding mixed with white discharge. As this continued for one week, I thought it was menstruation and thus I started not to perform Salah (Prayer). Then I had bleeding of a brown color like that of dirt. It continued for ten days so I went to hospital and had a pregnancy test (Part No. 4; Page No. 231) but it was negative. Finally, I had for the first time in my life a dark red bleeding. It continued for twenty days. This started thirty-one days ago until now; a period during which I did not perform Salah. I now have a very slight bleeding. My question is whether such blood that I have is menstruation or Istihadah (abnormal vaginal bleeding outside the menstrual or post-partum period)? Do I have to perform Salah? What is the ruling on the number of Salahs that I missed? What is Istihadah? May Allah reward you with the best for helping Muslims.