Question
Prayer and worship are a means of cleansing ourselves spiritually. To a man that prays from his heart, his times of prayer are looked forward to, and he greatly enjoys them and feels better after them.
I would feel really bad if I were in circumstances where I could not be allowed to pray.
I have learned to my great surprise that women that are having their menses are not allowed to pray. This struck me as being unfair. It would seem much like a thirsty person not being allowed to drink water. This prohibition does not make any sense at all to me. Why are women barred from praying when they can do all their other day to day activities in this state?
The very reason a person would want to pray is to further cleanse themselves spiritually. Why should this means of purification be denied to them by the Creator for any length of time?
Answer
Sala’h, or the ritual prayer, is in fact our presence in the court of the Almighty, according to the prescriptions and laws of the Almighty Himself. There are innumerable other – practical and/or verbal – forms of remembering God, yet Sala’h is different from these forms insofar as its preparation, circumstances, timings and internal format must be exactly as God has recommended them to be.
According to the recommendations and the prescriptions of the Shari`ah, every person must not only be in a state of physical cleanness at the time of offering Sala’h, but should also have performed the prescribed form of cleansing – Wudu. According to the stipulations of the Qur’an, menstrual blood is a kind of physical uncleanness which a woman contracts during her menstrual periods. Due to this physical uncleanness a woman, according to the prescriptions of the very God, Whom we worship during Sala’h – should avoid offering ritual prayers – Sala’h – during her menstrual periods.
If one keeps the point in mind that a woman refrains from offering Sala’h during her menstrual periods for absolutely no other reason except as a show of obedience to God’s directives, one would realize that even such a refrain is an act of piety, obedience and submission to the Almighty. Thus, seen in the correct perspective, a pious woman’s refrain from offering prayers during her menstrual periods and her preparedness of offering prayers during other days entails the same basic spirit of living her life according to the prescriptions of her Lord and each of these acts should, therefore, be seen as one of piety and submission.
As for the other acts of remembrance of the Almighty, besides Sala’h and a few other forms, a woman may offer these acts at any time and during any external or physical state. No restriction of physical cleanness or ablution etc. applies to these other forms of remembrance of God.
You write:
I would feel really bad if I were in circumstances where I could not be allowed to pray.
Even though I find the spirit of your concern extremely commendable, yet this comment seems to have ignored two points: Firstly, when God Himself imposes a restriction on my offering prayers, then I should, with the true spirit of worshiping God, be delighted – rather than feel bad – to honor and respect these restrictions; Secondly, the restriction imposed on women (during their menstrual periods) is only with respect to offering Sala’h, Hajj and fasting. Besides these forms of worship, a woman may offer other prayers, supplications etc. Thus, the restriction imposed on women should not be seen as a restriction imposed on praying and remembering God, but only as a restriction imposed on offering Sala’h, i.e., the ritual prayer.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
December 22, 2002