Fathwa - Menstruation - How do we deal with depression during awomans menstrual cycle?

Question:
As salamaulaykum,
I am going through a difficult time in my life. Allah is testing me,
and I am patiently waiting for my du'as to be answered. At times of
purity, I am atpeace because I can come to Allah. But during my
menstrual cycle, I am reduced to a state of drepression, self-pity,
tears... I don'tknow how to soothe myself. I can't pray, I can't read
the Qur'an, I can't enter a masjid.
It's a week of hell. What can I do to end my grief? It comes back
every month, andI can't deal with these feelings.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.
Dear Sister,
I pray this message finds you in good health and spirits.
First off, if you are suffering from serious depression during your
menstrual cycle, it may be advisable to see an OB-GYN. Some women
experience mood swingsright before and during their menstrual cycles.
However, serious depression is not typical and should not be
overlooked.
The beauty of our way oflife is that the believer is never cut off
from her Lord, no matter what herstate. Even if a woman is
menstruating or experiencing postnatal bleeding, there are still ways
for her to strengthen her iman anddraw nearer to Allah Most High.
While you are menstruating, there are specific acts of worship, which
are prohibited. The reason for the prohibition is the lack of ritual
purity, and not a deficiency in you. There is no reason to be
depressed. It is not a punishment that you can't pray. Rather, it is a
mercy from Allah Most High that He has lifted these obligations from
women experiencing menstrual or postnatal bleeding, while at the same
time not taking anything away from them in terms of reward or good
deeds.
According to the Hanafi School, the acts of worship which you cannnot
do during your period (or postnatal bleeding) are as follows:
1. Prayer, whether obligatory or voluntary
2. Fasting, whether obligatory or voluntary
3. Sexual intercourse, although it is permitted for the husband and
wife to kiss, cuddle, and lay together, as long as the husband avoids
direct contact with the area between her navel and knee
4. Making tawaf (circumambulation of the Kaaba)
5. Entering a masjid
6. Touching the Qur'an
7. Reciting the Qur'an with the intention of recitation
These are the things you can't do. However, there are things you can
do to keep your connection to Allah Most High:
1. Listen to the Qur'an. Either have someone recite it to you, or
listen to a tape or cd.
2. The Hanafi School recommends that menstruating women make ablution
at the time of prayer, sit in a quiet place, and supplicate Allah.
Although the ablution does not lift the state of ritual impurity, it
still puts one in a good frameof mind.
3. Constant remembranceof Allah. Remember that the Prophet, Allah
bless him and give him peace, remembered Allah in all his states.
There is nothing preventing you from supplicating Allah and making
remembrance of Him ( dhikr ). Furthermore, even if the supplications
contain verses from the Qur'an, as many do, it is permitted to say
these supplications, provided that you do so with the intention of
remembrance, and not recitation.
4. Study Sacred Knowledge. It is permissible to handle books of tafsir
(Qur'an commentary), fiqh (Sacred Law), and hadith, provided that they
do not contain more Qur'anic text than commentary.
5. Listen to uplifting tapes and cds. There are many nice productions
to listen to, for example, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf's Purification of the
Heart. Since you're not praying,why not take the extra time to listen
to some of these?
6. Get a sisters' gatheringtogether. Even if you're not praying,
chances are someone else is. Have this sister recite Qur'an for you.
Being in good company lifts one's spirits.
7. Join a class here at SunniPath. Since the courses are available
online, you can log on at your convenience and listen to
traditionally-trained scholars. I can personally vouch for the quality
of these courses. Furthermore, when I felt bad, nothing strengthened
my iman and uplifted my spirits more than going to SunniPath and
benefiting from the blessed knowledge offered in a wide array of
courses.

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Fathwa - Menstruation - Praying after a hysterectomy

Question:
I just recently had a hysterectomy due to medical problems, what is
the ruling on praying during the recovery after such a surgery. The
medical limitations are the same as for childbirth with some very mild
bleeding.
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Kind.
I pray Allah gives you well being and a quick recovery.
Menstruation is blood that comes from the uterus, this is true
medically and in the Sacred Law [Marqi al-Falah]. If there is no
uterus, it is not possible for the blood that is seento be menstrual
blood. Hence, the blood you seewould be considered istihadhah or
intermittent bleeding.


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Fathwa - Menstruation - Wudu when najas is non-stop

Question:
I have a problem of spontaneous excretionof najas. In other words even
if I finish wudu in about 3-4 minutes a very small particle of najas
may come out. I re-take wudu every time, but I was wondering if I
canat least one full prayer (including obligatory and sunnah prayers).
Otherwise during Isha prayer or Dhuhr prayerI will have to take up to
3 wudus to finish a prayer.
Answer:
Assalamu alaykum
Jazak Allah Khayr for your question.
If one cannot perform ablution and the obligatory prayer without her
ablution being invalidated, then she should follow the rulings related
to the chronic annulment of ablution.
For example, colored discharge continues to exit from a woman during
the Duhr prayer time. If she cannot perform her ablution and prayer
without the discharge persisting, then, she should wait until the end
of Duhr time so that there is enough time to perform ablution and pray
the obligatory prayer.
If in Asr time, her bleeding remains, she must wait until the end of
the prayer time (before the Makruh period) and make wudu and pray. If
the completeprayer time elapses and the bleeding hasn''''t stopped,
she has established her excuse.
To keep her excuse, she must see its occurrence only once within each
succeeding prayer time. If a complete prayer timeends, and her excuse
wasnot seen, then, she has lost her status as an excused person.
A person who is excused must make wudu within every prayer time. She
can pray whatever she wills from the obligatory and non-obligatory
prayers, as well as perform other forms of worship that require wudu.
Her wudu is invalidated by the exiting of a prayer time, or the
occurrence of anything that breaks wudu other than her excuse, or if
she performed wudu for any reason other than the excuse and the excuse
was inactive but returns after making wudu.

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Rights of the kin in the light of Islam –I

Keeping bonds of kinship is not as easy as it sounds. Families and
friends give warmth and meaning to our lives, keep us strong and
fulfilled, make us feel loved and wanted, help us grow, struggle and
stay the course of an unpredictable and at times unkind life. In
Islam, Allaah requires us to revere the womb and the relation-ships
that emanate from it.
Allaah the Almighty imposes on us to save not only our-selves butour
family from the Punishment—which means that a good family can help us
evade the Fire of a miserable eternity, just as a bad one can lead us
into it.
Allaah Says (what means): "O you who believe! Save yourselves and your
families from a Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones." [Quran 66:6]
But intimacy, closeness, frequent interaction and mutual dependence
that dose family and friends share can lead to the exact opposite of
the beautiful things enumerated above. Warmth of love in a family can
turn into a hell of envy, bonds of blood can become spilling of blood,
search for fulfillment can become thirst for humiliating others, and
support in tough times can turn into hatred and rivalry even in good
times. It happens when the members of a family do not possess the
right values and attitude. Satan, the worst enemy of mankind, loves
none of his snares more than sowing hatred within believing families
and friends. The excessive individualism of modern times as well as
timelessignorance and selfishness can replace the love of families and
bonds of friendship with hatred and bad blood.
Unfortunately, today we find some people that quickly denounce and
desert family members only because they forgot to invite them to the
last get together. We can find family members who actually live
door-to-door and refuse to even share the greeting amongst them when
they met face to face.The reason? Each one claims that the other
should initiate the first visit and "why should I be the one to go
knock on their door? Plus, I got ill the other day and they did not
even bother to stop by and see how I was doing!" Oh, does it hurt to
hear these `arguments.' It makes us understand the words of the
Messenger of Allaah that Satan runs through the blood stream of the
son of Aadam. The saddest thing is that their children were told to
never speakto their relatives or even approach their door. It rips
hearts inside out to even think about it.
Severing relation has become a threatening epidemic that has found its
way into many Muslim families. Have we forgotten the tremendous value
of Ar-Raheem? Have we become completely unmindful and oblivious of its
significance? Or is it that our selfishness and self-centeredness has
gotten the best of us?
But, before we go further, let us define the word raheem.
The word in Arabic is extracted from rahem which literally refers to
the womb; the latter has been the abode of every human being before
they came out to this world except for Aadam and Hawwaa (Eve). Islamic
scholar Ar-Raghib Al-Asfahaani said,"Ar-Rahem is the womb of the
mother, and it stands for family ties knowing that it was the first
source from which they were produced" In Islamic terminology, Ar-Rahem
means family bonds and relations, something we refer to in English as
kinship relationships.
The Messenger enlightens us on the noble position of rahem through a
powerful allegory in a hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurayrah : "Allaah
created all the creation, and when He finished, ar-rahem (the womb)
got up and pleaded to Allaah, where-upon Allaah said to it, "What is
the matter?" It said: "At this place, I seek your refuge from those
who sever me (cut offties of kinship)." Allaah said,"Yes, will you
not be satisfied if I bestow My favors on him who keeps your ties, and
withhold My favors from him who severs your ties;" Upon this, it said,
"Yes, O my Lord!" Allaah said, "Then that is for you". (Al-Bukhaari)
This hadeeth lays out the very foundation of kin-ship, emphasizing its
importance as well as the ramifications of' severing kinship ties.
Ar-Rahem is a noun that encompasses all the relatives from the
father's and the mother's sides. Islamic scholar Al-Qurtubi said,
"Generally speaking, ar-rahem has a broad and a particular meaning.
The broad one includes all the believers and that is ar-rahem of
religion, then there is the one pertaining to all relatives of any
person from the father's and the mother's sides which is the one
concerning us in this issue. Knowthat each one of them has a number of
due rights over you. Allaah revealed this verse regarding ar-rahem,
which many Muslims throughout the world recognize, since they hear it
everyFriday from their Imaams as part of the introduction of the
khutbah (which means): "And fear Allaah through Whom you ask one
another; and the wombs." [Quran 4: l]
Silah, which literally means connecting, is used often in conjunction
with rahem, and so silat ar-rahem means to join the ties of kinship by
treating one's relatives fairly and compassionately.
On top of the list of these relations come our parents, who have
sacrificed much of their livesto make us strong and worthy human
beings. Then come our brothers and sisters with whom we shared the
same womb, and then our grand parents along with all the other family
members including our uncles, aunts and cousins from both the paternal
and maternal sides.
Our kin's rights over us
Every member of our family has rights over us. These rights differ
from one person to another. For instance, the mother stands higher
than the aunt and the grandfather is most definitely above the brother
in law.
Some of the rights our next of kinhas on us are: To maintain a good
relationship with them by showing respect, love and sympathy. Be there
for them when they need you. Go visit them at times of sickness and be
a good support at times of tribulations. Share with them glorious
moments. Let them in on all your good news. Buy them gifts and
congratulate them on 'Eed days. Help them financially during harsh
times. When Allaah revealed the verse (which means): "You will not
attain pietyuntil you spend from that which is beloved to you". [Quran
3: 93] Abu Talhah said, "The most beloved to me of my wealth is
Bayrahaa' (a garden), and I am giving it as a charity for Allaah, I
yearn for its reward from Allaah. O Messenger of Allaah, spend it
asyou see fit according to what Allaah has shown you." The Messenger
said, "Bakhin! (an expression of amazement) That indeed is a
profitable trade. I have heard what you said, and I recommend that you
spend it on your kin." Abu Talhah responded,"O Messenger of Allaah, I
will do so." And Abu Talhah indeed gave it away to his relatives.
Spending on kinship has become a neglected responsibility, to the
point that you can easily find people who will invite a friend to a
classy restaurant and never spend a dime on their cousin. They offer
valuable gifts and evenmoney to their peers and co-workers while their
parents are in dire situations. This brings to mind the event of
Musteh whowas Abu Bakr's cousin and also among those who fell into the
error of slandering his (Abu Bakr's) daughter, the mother of the
believers, 'Aaishah in the famous incident of 'ifk (lie). This made
Abu Bakr so furious that he took an oath he would never again give
charity to Musteh. Following this incident Allaah the Almighty sent
down a number of verses attesting to theinnocence of the mother of the
believers, but among them was also this magnificent verse (which
means): "And let not those among you who are blessed with graces and
wealth swear not to give (any sort of help) to their kinsmen, and the
poor, and those who left their homes for Allaah's cause. Let them
pardon and forgive. Do you not love that Allaah should forgive you?
And Allaah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." [Quran 24:22]
Upon hearing this beautiful verse,the noble companion Abu Bakr said,
"Yes we love!"(meaning yes O Allaah, we love that you forgive us) Then
he resumed his spending on Musteh. Let us all pause and look deep into
this verse and reflect upon its limitless wisdom, and see how Allaah
the Lord of the worlds guided to Abu Bakr charity tohis kin, even when
this person had falsely slandered his daughter!

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