Women and Salah: Menstruation, Mosque, Clothing, Making Up

This page gives information about the questions women most often ask about prayer. It is not a fatwa: where schools differ, the differences are listed, and your own cycle, health and circumstances may need a scholar's answer. For the prayer itself, see how to pray.

Menstruation and post-natal bleeding

During menstruation (hayd) and post-natal bleeding (nifas), a woman does not pray and does not fast. The prayers of those days are not made up; the fasts are. Aisha was asked why, and replied that the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded them to make up the fasts and did not command them to make up the prayers (Muslim 335). The Qur'an (2:222) refers to menstruation as a condition in which intimacy is set aside; it is not impurity of the person, and nothing stops a menstruating woman from dhikr, dua, learning or attending gatherings.

How long?

Bleeding beyond the maximum, or outside the usual pattern, is istihadah: it does not stop prayer. The woman washes, makes wudu for each prayer (or each prayer time) and prays normally.

When it ends

1. Confirm bleeding has stopped (no colour, or the white discharge some women notice).
2. Perform ghusl: intention, wash the whole body including the hair to the roots, rinse the mouth and nose.
3. Pray the prayer whose time you are in. If bleeding stopped with enough of a prayer's time left, that prayer is owed; and in the majority view the prayer that can be combined with it (Dhuhr with Asr, Maghrib with Isha) is owed too if it stopped in the second one's time. Hanafis require only the current prayer.

Worked example. Bleeding stops at 15:00; Asr begins at 15:40 and Maghrib at 18:20. Ghusl, then Asr. Shafi'is, Malikis and Hanbalis also pray Dhuhr. Hanafis: Asr only. Days of prayer during the period: none owed.

Fasting

Missed Ramadan fasts are made up one day for each day, before the next Ramadan if possible; see missed fasts: qada and fidyah.

Prayer during pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy does not stop prayer. Sit, or pray on a chair, when standing is hard (praying when ill or elderly). After birth, prayer resumes as soon as bleeding stops, even after a few days; the 40-day figure is a maximum, not a required rest.

Mosque attendance

The Prophet said not to prevent the women servants of Allah from the mosques (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim). Across history and today, practice has varied:

• Jumu'ah and the five prayers are not obligatory for women in congregation in any school; a woman who prays at home has prayed fully. A woman who attends earns the congregation's reward.
• Eid prayer: there is a well-known hadith in al-Bukhari and Muslim that even menstruating women were told to come out to the Eid gathering (standing aside from the prayer itself) to share in the day.
• Tarawih in congregation is popular with women in most countries; many mosques run a women's section for it.

Some mosques, especially older ones in some countries, have no women's area; many are now adding one. Read mosque etiquette for what to expect.

Clothing for prayer

In prayer a woman covers the whole body except the face and hands (Hanafis also exempt the feet; Malikis and Shafi'is require them covered; Hanbalis differ). Practically:

• A long, loose garment and a scarf that covers the hair, neck and chest. Many women keep a prayer dress (a one-piece or two-piece cover) by the mat so that ordinary clothes do not matter.
• Opaque fabric; no skin showing at wrists, ankles or neckline when you bow.
• Shoes are not required; socks are enough where feet must be covered.

In the Hanafi school, if a quarter of a limb that must be covered stays exposed for the length of a pillar of the prayer, the prayer is repeated; other schools have similar thresholds. Small accidental slips that are fixed at once do not invalidate the prayer.

Leading prayer

A woman may lead other women in prayer, standing in the middle of the front row rather than in front of it, in the Hanafi (with some dislike), Shafi'i and Hanbali view; Malikis do not permit it. A woman leading men is not accepted in the four schools. A woman may teach, call her household to prayer and lead her children.

Keeping track

Many women keep a note of their cycle for exactly this reason: knowing which prayers to resume and which fasts are owed. A diary, a period-tracking app, or a tracker that handles qada prayers all serve; the point is to be sure of the dates. Fasts are the main thing to count (qada of missed prayers explains the general method of making up). Check prayer times when bleeding stops so you know which prayer's time you are in.

The rules in this area depend heavily on a woman's own pattern, and the schools differ on the details. For your own situation, ask a scholar or imam you trust; many communities have women scholars who answer these questions regularly.