Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Muslimah in Progress

Home
About

Home
Muslim
Religion News
Why does the menstruating woman not pray or fast? A personal and practical possible answer

Why does the menstruating woman not pray or fast? A personal and practical possible answer

Last updated on: July 7, 2014 at 11:03 am by Nancy Qualls-Shehata

Why does the menstruating woman not pray or fast? A personal and practical possible answer 2014-07-07T11:03:21-04:00 Nancy Qualls-Shehata

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As Salaamu Alaikum. I have had some Muslim friends asking questions about certain rules and regulations in Islam. Specifically, it was asked “Why don’t we women pray or fast during our menses?”.

Now, the short answer to that is “God said so”. It is agreed upon by all the scholars that the teachings in the Qur’an and in the Sunnah (the way of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) indicate that women are not to pray or to fast when they are on their menstrual cycle. We are to abstain from praying and fasting and then make up the missed fasts, but not the missed prayers. It is enough to know that this is an authentic rule for us to submit, but it is human nature to want to look more deeply into the issue.

A different version of the question is “Why can’t I pray or fast when I’m on my menses?”. This is a more personal question. A woman asking this may be saying “I am strong, my menses is a bit of a hassle but no big deal, I really want to pray and fast and I feel like I am missing out on worship when I don’t fast and pray. Why can’t it just be optional for me to do so if I want?”

This is an honest question. My reply, my LAYPERSON’S reply, let me stress, is this: Sometimes Allah makes rules for everyone, even though not everyone is in need of regulation. For example. Allah has made the consumption of alcohol forbidden to everyone, even though there are people who are incredibly responsible and who would never drink and drive, or become angry at someone, or behave in a destructive way due to alcohol. Because there is no way to sort out the “good drinkers” from the “bad drinkers”, erring on the side of benefit for the most people, Allah has made the ban on drinking alcohol universal. Those who are “safe” drinkers nonetheless abstain out of obedience to Allah, and to serve as good role models for everyone else.

I could argue a similar case for women not praying or fasting during menses. Imagine you have a group of ten women. For two of the women, their menses is really easy and it doesn’t slow them down much. They don’t have huge hormonal swings or cramps or other issues. Five of the women have moderate issues like cramps, headache, mood swings, and physical issues like bloating. They can pop an Advil and get through, but they are not at their best. The other three women really struggle. They are incapacitated by their menstrual cycle with severe cramps, fatigue, brain fog, and just all-around misery. They lie on the sofa for at least a day or so curled up around a hot water bottle. To have to get up to pray or to endure the rigors of fasting would be a major hassle for them.

Add to that the practical aspect of dealing with menstrual blood, and you can see that trying to maintain the prayer and fasting would be an incredible hardship for some women. Those of us living in a modern country cannot understand the plain old physical hardship of not having any type of feminine hygiene products to keep us feeling relatively clean and fresh. Some women make their own with strips of cloth and others do without, never moving from their homes and having the menstrual blood flow into a basin or onto the ground. I remember reading a story recently about a region in India where all the girls quit school when they started menstruating because they had no pads or other products to catch the flow of blood, so they effectively just stepped out of society for those days every month. This is NOT a rare thing – much of the Muslim world lives in relatively primitive circumstances in this regards. Imagine having to pray and fast and somehow keep clean without the basic necessities to do so.

An answer to that might be “Well, why not make it optional?” I think in that case, a lot of women would be guilted or pressured into trying to carry on and pray and fast even when they felt miserable. It’s like what I see among a lot of women when they try to “encourage” their sister in Islam to fast even when she is heavily pregnant or breastfeeding. I know a lot of women who struggle mightily to fast in those circumstances just because of pressure from family or friends, even though they have a clear dispensation from Allah Himself to refrain from fasting and make up the days later.

So if it were optional to fast or pray while menstruating, many women who are in pain, who are very uncomfortable, who have a heavy flow that is difficult to manage, would feel pressured by others around them to “buck up and be strong” and pray or fast anyway even though for them it would be a mercy to take the dispensation. Women can be really tough on other women and we find it hard to put ourselves in others’ shoes. I mean, for instance, I was blessed with easy fast labors when I had my babies, alhamdulillah. Does that give me the right to tell another woman whose labor pains are really horrible that she should “tough it out” and not take any pain relief? It’s not my place!

So Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala took this issue out of our hands. It does not require us to make a judgment call – am I too miserable to pray or fast? He in His Mercy gives relief to all, even though some of us are more or less unaffected by the pains of that time of the month and could continue with our normal routine unaffected.

I hope this has helped to clarify a bit for those of my sisters who feel that they COULD pray or fast. Think about all the women for whom trying to pray or fast at this time would be a misery and a burden. Know that Allah will never cause any of our good deeds to be lost, and if we can’t pray or fast at this time, still we can do other acts of worship, such as making dhikr, feeding a fasting person, reading educational books or listening to lectures, and lots more. Remember that your menses is a BLESSING if it is normal and means your body is working as Allah designed it. It is not a “woman’s curse” as many are wont to call it.

Anything correct that I said is from Allah and anything incorrect is from the Shaitan and my own nafs.

Previous Post

May 26, 2014

A Muslim on Memorial Day

Next Post

July 15, 2014 No, I am not changing my Facebook profile picture to show solidarity with Gaza

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Criminal Justic Current Events Islam prom Satire Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 May 2014 December 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 August 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who led the Israelites into the Promised Land?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Aaron Moses Caleb Joshua