Fabricated Report Concerning Virtue of Special Prayer After Bath From Menses
Question

                I got an e-mail which quoted a hadeeth (prophetic narration) from the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “If a woman does ghusl (takes a bath) following her menses and prays two rak‘ahs (units of prayer) in which she recites al-Fatihah and Surah al-Ikhlas three times in each rak‘ah, she will be forgiven every sin she committed, minor or major, and no sin will be recorded for her until her next period, and she will be given the reward of sixty martyrs…” Is this a saheeh (authentic) hadeeth?
Praise be to Allah.
    There is 
    no basis for this hadeeth and it is not mentioned in the well-known books of 
    hadeeth. Rather it was mentioned by al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Safoori (d. 
    894 AH) in his book Nuzhat al-Majalis wa Muntakhab al-Nafais (p. 240), where 
    he said: 

    It was 
    narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): “If a 
    woman does ghusl following her menses and prays two rak‘ahs in which she 
    recites al-Fatihah and Surah al-Ikhlas three times in each rak‘ah, she will 
    be forgiven every sin she committed, minor or major, and no sin will be 
    recorded for her until her next period, and she will be given the reward of 
    sixty martyrs, a city will be built for her in Paradise, she will be given 
    light for every hair on her head, and if she dies before her next menses she 
    will die as a martyr.” End quote. 

    The fact 
    that this is the only book that mentions this hadeeth is sufficient to prove 
    that it is false and fabricated, because it is a book that is filled with 
    false reports. Al-Shaykh Muhammad Rasheed Rida said: 

    We cannot 
    rely on the hadeeths with which books of exhortation, heart-softening 
    reports and tasawwuf (Sufism) are filled, without examining their origins 
    and degrees of authenticity. This ruling does not apply only to books whose 
    authors are not known for having advanced knowledge (of hadeeth), such as 
    the book Nuzhat al-Majalis, which is filled with fabricated hadeeths and 
    other reports; rather even the books of some leading scholars, such as 
    al-Ihya, are not free of many fabricated reports. End quote. 

    Majallat 
    al-Manar, 3/545 

    And Allah 
    knows best.