The ritual prayer – salah – in Islam is a grave matter.  It is that which defines the validity of our Islam. Jabir says, “I heard the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, say, ‘That which is between a man and disbelief or idolatry is the leaving of salah.’” (Saheeh Muslim)

It is also the first thing we will be held to account for on the Day of Judgment. Abu Hurairah (r) said that the Prophet (saws) said, “The first thing the servant is held accountable for on the Day of Judgment is his prayer. If it is valid then he triumphs and succeeds, yet if it is sullied he is thwarted and at loss.”

We will see our days and our nights – the prayers we prayed and the prayers we missed. We will have to bring forth prayers that were prayed incorrectly or insincerely.  It is our fard prayer that will be the primary criterion of our success or failure in this theatre of judgment.  If it is found wanting, it is possible that we may be able to make up for it with oursunnah prayers; but we do not want to reach a place on judgment day when we find ourselves in the abhorrent position of not having fulfilled our duty to our Lord.

In a woman’s life the prayer is a different battle than in a man’s life.  Women menstruate monthly for anywhere between thirty and forty years and during that time must reestablish the habit of prayer every month.  Women who give birth will have a month or two of nifas – a long period of time without the prayer – each time they have a child or a miscarriage.

Menstruation and prayer

When a woman is menstruating she is not obligated to perform the prayer nor to make it up later (unlike fasting – which she is obligated to make up).  It is not, however, a legalized ‘vacation’ from her Lord.   This common attitude amongst women – the attitude of ‘I have my period so I do not have any obligation for worship’ is a modern innovation.

If a woman were to menstruate normally (in other words for one week each month for thirty to forty years) then by the end of her life she would have missed ten years of prayer.  Hence it is important that those ten years are not void of remembrance and closeness to her Lord.  It is reported by both Bukhari and Muslim that during the last ten days of Ramadan the Prophet (saws) would ‘tighten his belt, stay awake at night (spend it in worship), and waken his family.’ It does not say “unless one of his wives was menstruating.”  The word phrase used in this hadith ‘ihya’ al layl’ or ‘bring life to the night’ means, according to al Hafiz, to stay awake in acts of obedience; al Nawawi says it means staying awake in prayer and other acts of worship; he also said elsewhere, ‘it means praying, remembering and mentioning Allah, and reading Quran.’

Worship in Islam encompasses more than just the ritual prayer. It includes du`a (supplication) and dhikr(remembrance) as well. Both of these types of prayer can and should be performed when a woman is menstruating.  Rabi`ah al `Adawiyyah – famous for her worship – has a poem that says,

O God, another night is passing away,
Another day is rising —
Was it accepted that I may rejoice,
or was it rejected that I may mourn?
I swear that ever since the first day You brought me back to life,
The day You became my Friend,
I have not slept —
And even if You drive me from your door,
I swear again that we will never be separated.
Because You are alive in my heart.

She swears she has not slept. Even allowing for poetic license it is clear that Rabi`ah was not in the habit of ‘taking a vacation’ from her Lord.

During menstruation a woman should make it a point to stay connected in some way to a worship schedule. At the very least taking advantage of the early morning time to call out to Allah (swt) and remember Him. Ali (r) says that the Prophet (saws) said, “Du`a is the weapon of a believer, a pillar of religion, and light of the heavens and the earth.”  (Hakim; with a saheeh chain) And Abu Hurairah (r) says that the Prophet (saws) said, “Who asks not of Allah, His anger is upon him.” (Tirmidhi)

Abu Musa (r) tells us that the Prophet (saws) said, “The example of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not is as the living and the dead.” (Saheeh Bukhari) And Allah Most High says, {Your Lord said, ‘Call upon me, and I will answer you. Verily those who wax too proud to worship Me shall enter Hell, utterly abased.}  (Ghafir: 60) and {Remember me, I will remember you, be grateful to Me and be not of the disbelievers.} (al Baqarah: 152) A perusal of hadith and the Quran leaves no doubt as to the importance of du`a and dhikr. The legal removal of the obligation of salah in no way allows for a woman to fall in to ghaflah or heedlessness.

While there is no wudu’ for a menstruating woman, she should prepare herself for these moments of worship by making sure she is wearing clean clothes – not sullied by bloodstains for example.  She can wash and apply some perfume. Then she may face the qiblah and begin to praise her Lord.  She can repeat phrases such as subhanAllah, alhamdulilah, la ilaha illa Allah, Allahu akbar.  It is a good time for reflection and tawba or repentance.  She can repeat astaghfirullah or the du`a of Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him), “La ilaha illa inta subhanaka, inni kuntu min al thalimeen.” “There is no God but You, glory be to You, indeed I am of the wrongdoers.” She should also spend time in du`a; praying for her family, her own dreams and hopes, the Muslim Ummah, etc. In this way she keeps the habit of prayer and does not lose ten years of worship time.

The End of Menstruation

Most important and most dangerous spiritually, is the time between when a woman can pray again and when she actually does pray again.  This is a state called janabah – meaning that she must go through a ritual purity in order to pray, but the prayer is once again obligatory upon her.  It is very important that she does not delay this ghusl (ritual shower).  Indeed if something delays her like a commute from work to home, or heating water to shower in, she should make wudu’. She should not eat, drink, or sleep in this state between janabah and purity.  Aisha (r) tells us in the Saheeh Muslim that the Prophet (saws) would not eat or sleep unless he had either performed ghusl or made wudu’, therefore we must take heed and treat this state between purity and prayer with sensitivity and care.

The end of menstruation can be verified in the following manners:

1.      The woman sees ‘tuhur’ – white discharge that is not tainted with any blood.

2.      The cessation of blood (not a pause in the flow).

3.      The number of maximum days for a period or post-natal bleeding has ended. In this case even if the woman is still bleeding, she considers it istihadaand goes back to her prayer. The maximum number of days differs according to the schools of thought.

Once she has completed her menstruation, the prayer is again required of her. Waiting to take a shower is not an excuse for missing a prayer. Here is where she falls into a dangerous space.  Shaqeeq ibn Abdullah (r) a tabi`yy says, “The companions of the Prophet (saws), did not consider the leaving of any deed equal to kufr other than salah.” (Saheeh Tirmidhi) When a woman realizes that she is ready to make ghusl, she should immediately make the intention to wash and to pray. Then she should do what needs to be done to actually perform ghusl and reestablish salah in her life.

This particular decision – to return to the prayer every month – demands taqwa, for certainly no one but she and Allah Most High know the truth about whether or not she has ceased menstruating. If she has spent the last week waking up early, in du`a and dhikr, it will be a natural flow back to her place on the prayer carpet. But if she has spent the last week staying up and sleeping in late, away from the remembrance of her Lord, she will find herself hard pressed to return to the salah.  Month after month may drive a wedge in her faith, and she will find herself weakened to matters of the world and distant from her Creator.

The modern question “Are you on vacation?” must be answered with a resounding, “Certainly not!” for no one takes a vacation from her Lord.