Hannah’s Daily Note

I recently saw an Instagram reel of a Muslim revert talking about how much she misses praying when she’s on her period. But she said something that I’m sure most women fall into the trap of – that women can’t pray when they’re on their period because we’re ‘impure’.

I cringed slightly at this – but then remembered that I too used to think like that. When I first was getting to learn the ropes of Islam, it was put to me like this too – we can’t pray, can’t pick up the Quran, can’t go into a mosque – all because for these few days every month, we’re impure.

What’s happened here is that the idea that blood is impure has been conflated to mean that women who are bleeding are impure. WE are not impure. Allah doesn’t tell us to stop praying because WE are impure. In fact, when we reframe this from a woman’s point of view (read – less patriarchal), knowing that Allah created us…knows us, the story about a woman’s bleed completely changes.

If you think about it – what’s the one thing you would really love the luxury of when you’re on your period? Doing less. Less to think about, less to plan, fewer people who are expecting something from you. So what does Allah give us? Exactly this. Unbroken sleep; one less thing to think about getting ‘done’ during the day; one less physical act to perform. It’s a relief from your cognitive and physical load. How beautiful.

Lately, I’ve really started to lean into this, and to think about how I can bring this idea of rest into other areas of my life when I have my period. Slower mornings, saying ‘no’ to social plans, more time with my journal.

Perhaps we all should be thinking of this break from normal acts of worship as a standard we should be setting for the time when we most need rest.