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Does Islam Stop Menstruating Women from Going to
the Masjid?
[See why Hadith is essential to Understanding the
Qur'an.]
On April 13, 2003
Br. Kaukab Siddique
was
invited to speak to a study
circle at
Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen
in Baltimore
to address the above issue.
He made the following points:
INTRODUCTION: Allah's last messenger, Muhammad,
peace be on him, was sent to
lead mankind from darkness into light at a time
when human beings had
corrupted religion itself. One of these
corruptions was the idea spread by
the
Jews
that women are to be shunned when they
are menstruating as if they
are an abomination. Verse 222 of Chapter 2 of the
Qur'an was revealed to
indicate that menstruation is merely a hurt and
uncleanliness and that sexual
intercourse is not permitted during this blood
flow. These are the words of
2:222.
"They ask thee concerning menstruation. Say it
is a hurt and uncleanliness.
So stay from women during menstruation and do not
approach them until they
are clean. But when they have cleaned themselves,
ye may approach them as
ordained for you by Allah. For Allah loves those
who turn to Him constantly
and He loves those who keep themselves clean."
However, if the Qur'an is not interpreted
by Hadith, "do not approach
them" can have the metaphorical meaning of "do
not have sexual intercourse
with them" (which the original Arab audience
understood) as well as the
LITERAL meaning of staying away entirely in a
physical sense.
The Jews, who were strong in
Madina
where
this verse was revealed,
believed LITERALLY in staying away from women
during menses, be it in the
home or places of worship.
The Hadith notes this Jewish attitude and
relates it to the revelation
of 2:222:
"Unas (Allah be pleased with him) narrates
that when a woman from among
the Jews menstruated, they would not eat with
her, nor drink with her, nor
allow her to remain at home with them. The
messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be on him) was asked about
this; then Allah Almighty
revealed the verse beginning: "They ask thee
concerning menstruation...."
The blessed messenger of Allah then commanded:
Have your meals with them and
drink with the menstruating women, and stay with
them in your homes, and be
normal with them in sexuality, except for actual
intercourse. The Jews said
angrily, 'This person will oppose us in
everything we do....' (Tirmidhi's
Sunan, Abwabu-tafseer al-Qur'an.)
However, the Jewish ideas of women being
unclean in their entirety was
so strong that even Muslim women themselves felt
that perhaps it would not be
fitting for them to go to places of worship.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on
him) made sure that such thoughts were dispelled.
He taught women that
menstruation does not make the entire person of a
woman unclean or unworthy
of going into a mosque:
"Ayesha, Allah be pleased with her,
narrates: The messenger of Allah,
pbuh, said to me: Bring me the prayer mat which
is in the mosque. I said: I
am menstruating! He said: Your menstruation is
not in your hand." [Hadith,
Sahih Muslim, Kitab-ut-taharah, also in the
collections of Abu Dawud,
Tirmidhi, and Nasai.]
"Abu Huraira, Allah be pleased with him,
narrates that the messenger of
Allah (pbuh) was in the masjid. He called out. O'
‘Ayesha! Give me my outer
garment. She replied: I am menstruating. He (the
Prophet) said: your
menstruation is not in your hand! She (‘Ayesha)
gave him the garment.
(Hadith, Sahih Muslim, kitab-ut-taharah)
He Prophet himself (pbuh) and the Qur'an
are more sacred for Muslims
than any mosque. For the Prophet (pbuh), ‘Ayesha
(r.a.), symbol of
womanhood, was part of this sacredness. [Read
this carefully.]
" ‘Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her,
narrates that: The Prophet,
pbuh, used to lie down with his head in my lap
while I was menstruating, and
then he used to recite the Qur'an." [Hadith,
Sahih Bukhari, kitabul haid]
The decisive Hadith in this issue has been
collected by Imam Bukhari.
It's a long Hadith narrated by ‘Ayesha (r.a.)
about a young African slave
woman who had been freed and was mistreated by
the tribe she lived with. She
came to the Prophet (pbuh) to embrace Islam and
he gave her a place of refuge
to live in, IN THE MOSQUE. ‘Ayesha, r.a.,
specifically says: "She had a
little corner or a little tent for herself in the
mosque (fil masjid)." [Sahih Bukhari, kitabu-us-salat]
Note that the Prophet's (pbuh) commands
about women's rights in the
mosque are FLAT COMMANDS with no ifs and buts
about menstruating women. No
women are left out :
"Do not stop the maidservants of Allah from
the mosques of Allah." (
Muwatta of Imam Malik and Sahih Muslim, kitabus
Salat)
"Do not stop women from going to the mosque
at night." [Collected by
Bukhari,
Muslim, Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi.]
The Prophet, pbuh, did NOT say, "except for
the menstruating women."
------------------------------------------
The question arises, why do some Islamic
scholars forbid women from
going to the masjid while menstruating. Their
views are based on two
incorrect assumptions:
1. Some of them have interpreted 4:43 in the
Qur'an, which forbids prayer in
conditions of impurity, both for men who have had
sexual emissions and for
menstruating women, to mean that they should stay
away from the mosque. The
verse says: "La Taqrab-us salat..." ('do not go
near prayer'). It does NOT
say, do not go near or to the mosque. [Ali ibn
Abi Talib, Allah be pleased
with him, supports the viewpoint that 4:43 means
prayer, not mosque.]
2. Other scholars base their view forbidding
women on a weak Hadith which
says: "Remove the doors of these homes from the
direction of the mosque
because I do not permit the menstruating one and
the sexually unclean to come
to the masjid." [Abu Dawud, kitabut taharah.] Ibn
Hazm, greatest scholar of
Muslim Spain, in his monumental work Al-Muhalla,
points out that the
narrator of this Hadith in the third generation,
Aflat bin Khalifa, is
unknown and unworthy of trust; hence this hadith
cannot be accepted.
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2003-04-26 Sat 07:27ct