Menstruation Rulings: Divine or Human Origin?

Is it not a universal truth that a falsehood is recognized by its contradictions? Let us observe the contradictions within the commands of Allah.

First Command: A menstruating woman is impure and cannot sit in any mosque.

Second Command: However, a menstruating woman may sit in the Masjid al-Haram (the holiest mosque) and perform Hajj rituals, which include kissing the Black Stone (Hajr-e-Aswad) embedded in the wall of the Kaaba and touching the Rukn-e-Yamani.

Do you see these contradictions in Islam? Our argument is that these inconsistencies cannot belong to a "Perfect" Divine God. They are the creation of a human mind, specifically the mind of Muhammad. On one hand, he was imposing restrictions on women due to the influence of ancient religions, especially Judaism. On the other hand, he became helpless before the complexities of practical life and was "forced" to grant "concessions," which appeared in the form of contradictions.

According to Islam:

1. A menstruating woman is physically impure. Therefore, such an impure woman cannot sit in a mosque or even enter the prayer area of an Eidgah. (Source: Sunan Abi Dawud, 1137 Grade: Sahih)

2. It is claimed that menstruation doesn't just affect the body, but the soul as well. Due to this "spiritual impurity," a woman cannot pray, fast, or recite the Quran, because doing so would "pollute" these sacred acts.

Imitating Judaism: Evidence of Human Origin

In Mecca, Muslims dealt with pagans who had no specific religious restrictions regarding menstruation. When Muhammad migrated to Medina, he encountered the Jewish community. In the early Medinan period, Muhammad tried to emulate Jewish practices in several matters, such as the initial Qibla facing Jerusalem and the Fast of Ashura.

In Jewish Law (Torah), a menstruating woman was declared physically and spiritually impure. When Muslims observed this Jewish conduct, they asked what they should do. In this context, Verse 222 of Surah Al-Baqarah was revealed: "They ask you about menstruation. Say, it is an impurity/discomfort, so keep away from women during menstruation..." [Note: According to Muslim scholars, Surah al-Baqarah was revealed during the very early Medinan period when Muhammad was adopting many Jewish practices]

If these commands were part of a pre-existing Divine scheme, women were present in Mecca for 13 years and they menstruated there too, yet this "issue" never arose. Why?

Please think about this point again:

• Did Allah only discover the "impurity" of menstruation after reaching Medina?

• During the 13 years in Mecca, women prayed, went near the Kaaba, touched it, kissed it, and performed Tawaf. Why didn't "impurity" stand in the way then?

This proves that these rules were not divine but were human reactions influenced by the environment. Seeing the Jews of Medina, Muhammad turned a non-issue into a crisis for women, making their lives difficult, and spent the rest of his life managing the resulting contradictions.

Contradiction: Masjid al-Haram vs. General Mosques

Early in Medina, Muhammad commanded that menstruation is an impurity and women cannot enter mosques or even the Eidgah. (Source: Sunan Abi Dawud, 1137 Grade: Sahih)

However, late in the Medinan period, when Muhammad went to Mecca for Hajj with Aisha, a problem arose. Aisha began her menses before Hajj and started crying and complaining. To resolve this situation, new commands were issued in the name of "revelation":

• Aisha could wear the Ihram while in this state.

• She could enter the Masjid al-Haram, even though it is the most sacred mosque in the universe.

• She could perform the Sa’i between Safa and Marwa, pelt the devils (Rami), stay at Arafat, and recite the Talbiyah and other Dhikr (remembrances).

• She could touch the walls of the Kaaba, kiss the Black Stone and the Rukn-e-Yamani, and stand at Maqam-e-Ibrahim. In short, she could perform all Hajj rituals except the Tawaf.

(Source: Sahih Bukhari 305 and 1650)

The questions are:

• If the sanctity of the world’s most superior mosque (Masjid al-Haram) and the Black Stone is not affected by a woman's menstruation, why would a local mosque be desecrated?

• If kissing the Black Stone is not "impurity," why is sitting in a corner of a mosque a sin?

Aisha’s experience during Hajj is a clear example of how these laws followed "events." When practical needs arose and a wife’s distress became an issue, contradictory commands were issued to solve the immediate problem. This is the method of a human leader adjusting rules for the peace of his close companions, not the sign of a Divine God.

Contradiction: Talbiyah vs. Quranic Recitation

Observe the details of "spiritual impurity" on Fatwa websites:

• A menstruating woman cannot touch the Quran.

• She cannot recite Quranic verses orally.

• If girls or female teachers in Madrasas start their period, they must stop teaching or learning the Quran.

Yet, here is the contradiction that the same woman forbidden from reciting the Word of God is fully permitted to loudly chant the Talbiyah (Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk). If it is permissible to praise God with an "impure" tongue, why does reciting God’s Word with that same tongue become a sin? Prayer and the Quran are also forms of Dhikr, yet they are forbidden. Why is the Talbiyah an exception? This is a flaw of a human system, not a divine one.

Contradiction: Is a Building More Sacred Than the Prophet’s Body?

A study of the Hadiths reveals the following:

• Sahih Bukhari (Hadith 300 and 302): Muhammad would ask his menstruating wives to wrap a cloth (Izar) and would then have physical intimacy with them short of intercourse. Aisha would wash Muhammad’s head while he was in I'tikaf (seclusion in the mosque) even while she was menstruating.

• Sahih Bukhari (Hadith 297): Aisha narrates that Muhammad would lean his head in her lap and recite the Quran while she was menstruating.

Do you see the contradiction? On one hand, Muhammad declares a menstruating woman so physically impure that her feet touching the floor of a mosque supposedly violates its sanctity. On the other hand, Muhammad allows his own body to touch hers. Is a mosque made of bricks and mortar more sacred than the body of a Prophet? If an Izar (cloth) was enough to prevent blood from touching the Prophet, why couldn't the same clothing make a woman "pure" enough to enter a mosque? This proves the ban was not about "impurity" but was a result of human confusion.

Hiding Humiliation Under the Guise of "Ease and Rest"

Muslim apologists argue that Islam provides exemptions for menstruating women to give them "ease" and "rest." This argument is a complete falsehood for the following reasons:

• Islam does not grant a full exemption from prayer to a severely ill, elderly, or wounded person. If they cannot stand, they must pray sitting, and if they cannot sit, they pray lying down. If "ease" was the goal, the person struggling between life and death would be the first to get a holiday from worship.

• Conversely, a menstruating woman who is performing all her household chores and is mentally active is stopped in the name of "rest."

The truth is that what apologists call a "concession" is actually a prohibition. If it were about ease, she would be given the choice to pray or rest. Instead, she is forcibly prohibited because, in religious logic, she has become "spiritually impure." Muhammad did not grant a concession for her comfort, but he believed she was physically and spiritually unclean, and the prohibition was solely to prevent "impurity" from polluting religious worship.

Consider this, if women consistently observed their prayers during menstruation for thirteen years in Makkah without any difficulty, how could menstruation suddenly transform into such a severe physical crisis in Madinah that it rendered them physically unfit for worship?

Hear the greatest proof from Muhammad himself:

• Sahih Bukhari (Hadith 304): Muhammad tells women they are "deficient in intelligence and religion." When asked why, he cited the half-witness testimony as a deficiency in intelligence and the inability to pray or fast during menstruation as a deficiency in religion.

This exposes the reality. Apologists call it "ease," while Muhammad calls it a "deficiency." A concession is a favour, but a deficiency is a flaw. This is not ease, but it is a degradation of women.

Another Injustice of the Male Human Mentality: A Heavy Financial Penalty for Menstruation

Consider another injustice of Islamic rulings toward women.

A woman travels from a distant land to perform Hajj. She begins menstruating along the way. According to Islamic ruling, she may enter Masjid al-Haram in that state, perform the sa'i, stand at Arafat, but she may not perform the tawaf around the Kaaba. Now if she is forced to return home urgently and cannot wait for her menstruation to end, she may perform the tawaf in that state of impurity, but she must sacrifice an entire cow or a whole camel as expiation (badanah).

See this fatwa for the details on menstruation and the badanah sacrifice.

But expiation is logically required when someone deliberately breaks a law. Menstruation is not within a woman's control. She cannot stop it, nor can she time it. So why is expiation imposed for this natural compulsion?

The penalty is not light either. An ordinary sacrifice requires only a small sheep, or seven people may share a single cow or camel. But here, the woman alone must sacrifice an entire cow or an entire camel, solely because she menstruated. Does this look to you like "divine justice"?

If you find this Hanafi ruling unjust and cruel, consider something worse. According to the other three major jurists, Imam Shafi'i, Imam Malik, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, if a woman's menstruation does not end, she must stay in Mecca regardless, even if her entire group or her flight has already departed, until she performs the tawaf al-ziyarah herself. No badanah or any other sacrifice will be accepted in its place, and she will not be released from this obligation until she performs the tawaf in person.

Is There Really an All-Knowing God Above?

For the past fourteen centuries, hundreds of millions of Muslim women have carried the psychological burden of believing that menstruation has made them impure.

That burden, already painful, was made worse still by Muslim jurists who began issuing contradictory fatwas such as the following.

• One jurist says a menstruating woman may touch the Quran with gloves. Another says she may not touch it even with gloves.
• One says she may recite the Quran without any problem. Another says she may not read a single word. A third then emerges to say a few verses are fine. One says girls memorizing the Quran and their teachers must stop during menstruation. Another says there is no problem at all.
• One says that if tawaf was missed because of menstruation, a badanah must be sacrificed. Another says she must stay behind even if that means being separated from her group, which is possibly an even greater financial burden than the badanah.

Reference: These contradictory fatwas can be read here.

Because of all these contradictory rulings, women are once again being ground down, left confused, conflicted, and financially damaged.

These contradictions among jurists are not their fault. The fault lies with the divine God Himself, who apparently could not even reveal coherent laws that would make His commands clear to ordinary people and spare them this centuries-long confusion and distress.

The foundational Muslim belief is that God is "Aleem and Khabeer," that He possesses complete knowledge of past, present, and future. If that claim is true, a serious question arises. Could God not foresee that His community would be paralyzed by fierce disagreements over this one issue for centuries?

If God knew in advance that His community would fall into enormous conflict over this matter, why did He not reveal a single clear and unambiguous verse in the Quran? For example, one plain verse could have settled everything.

• (If prohibition was intended) A menstruating woman may not recite even one verse of the Quran or touch it by any means.
• (If permission was intended) A menstruating woman may both recite the Quran and touch it.

A single clear verse would have ended centuries of ambiguity and confusion and given hundreds of millions of women peace of mind.

The Quran is a very long book, one that God filled with declarations of His own greatness and power, some ancient stories and parables, and extensive threats of eternal punishment directed at non-believers. Yet when the time came to make life genuinely easier for human beings, not a single clear verse appeared.

This silence proves that no divine being stood behind these rulings, one capable of foreseeing future challenges. It is evidence of the "human limitation" of someone making decisions suited to the circumstances of his own time, someone not "perfect" enough to anticipate the contradictions that would surface centuries later and address them in advance.

What Should a Logical Command Have Been?

Your human reason will reach this conclusion:

• If there were truly a Wise God, menstruation would have been a non-issue regarding worship. Instead, the Islamic God turned it into a crisis.

• A Divine God would have known that menstruation is a natural process that does not make a woman so physically unclean that she cannot enter a mosque with proper hygiene.

• Such a God would have known that menstruation does not make a woman's soul impure, but her spiritual purity and faith remain intact.

Religions like Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam that turned menstruation into an issue are all pointing to the same reality. These are not divine laws, but products of a male mindset that viewed the female body with fear and misunderstanding.