![]() The Prophet Mohammad said women are "deficient in intelligence and religion," in part because they can't pray while menstruating. God told Eve, "I shall give you intense pain in childbearing, you will give birth to your children in pain." To be sure, both men and women must perform ritual washing post-coitus-but menstruation is rather more ongoing, and women must wait for their periods to end before they can resume performing ritual acts of worship. Still, it's hard to reconcile with the idea that a God-given bodily function necessary for procreation would be shunned by faith traditions. "Our sisters should not feel anguished, nor sad, nor depressed," the Islamic scholar Ahmad Jibril said in a talk on the matter, "Nor think that others beat you in because you were ordered not to fast and pray by the same one who ordered others to fast and pray so you're… in a worship by obedience to Allah." #Bloodied jesus sitting next to a downcast man free#Menstruating women are not given the option for a free pass they're ordered to take leave. Muslims are offered the option of not fasting during the holy month if they're traveling or ill. "God understands what we're going through, so he gave us a break during that time of the month." While I see her point, the "holiday" argument doesn't add up for me. "I see it as a sort of holiday," one of my friends told me. The "because God said so" argument is sufficient for some Muslim women, while others claim the forced exile from worship comes from a place of understanding. "This is something that Allah the Mighty and Sublime has decreed for the daughters of Adam," Islam's Prophet Mohammad reportedly told his wife Aishah to console her after her menstrual cycle prevented her from being able to fully partake in the pilgrimage to Mecca, another spiritual act prescribed to all Muslims. ![]() In recognition of this sentiment, some religions have been reformed to be more accommodating of women and their menstrual cycles, while others, including Islam, have left these issues for women to reconcile with on a personal level. While I'm invariably grateful for a few days of food during Ramadan, the idea that a natural-and until very recently, uncontrollable-bodily phenomenon renders me "impure" has been difficult for me to accept. These restrictions don't always sit easy with the contemporary practitioner of these religions-especially those seeking to reconcile feminist beliefs with their religions. The internet abounds with anxious questions posed by women from a wide array of religious traditions seeking specific answers on whether or not they can attend funerals, bake bread, pickle vegetables, recite scripture, or touch their partners while menstruating. There are, or have been, faith-based limitations on menstruating women in nearly every major religion from, Shintoism to Judaism to Christianity to Zoroastrianism. Religious restrictions surrounding a woman's monthly cycle aren't only found in Islam. While some see their time off as a sort of lucky break, others struggle with the idea that they can't reach out to God through formal worship at all times-especially when faced with personal difficulty or loss. But while a quick ablution restores purity after taking a leak, Muslim women are essentially barred from these acts of prayer for days each month by a fact of their anatomy. The same is true for urinating, defecating, vomiting, or passing gas. ![]() Fasting isn't the only one of Islam's main tenets that's off limits to women during that time of the month the five daily prayers are similarly banned, as well as reading from a copy of the Quran and stepping into a mosque, depending on who you ask.Īny sort of bleeding defiles the state of "purity" required for these acts of worship, even if its from a cut. ![]()
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