A Period To Be Grateful

It is now my second month of being a Muslim, and after hearing what women can and cannot do when it comes to salaah, I came to find that we women have some wonderful privileges men do not have. Yes, they are privileged to sit in the masjid right in front with the imam; they are able to call the athaan and pray louder; they can take the lead – while we have to sit out of their sight… But there are some things they cannot do – like have a reflective  “week off” from salaat per month!

Yes… I am talking about hayd –when  “that time of the month” comes again, and you have to sit out of prayers and pack the Quran away for a week – unless of course you are fortunate to have a husband to read it to you!

You probably ask: who would want to have a week off when you cannot pray? Who would not want to be able to touch the Qur’an for the selfsame period of time? Who would not mind being seen as “unclean”? Is this not something to feel offended by? Is this not some patriarchal rule which limits women?

Call it what you will, but I feel privileged to be a Muslim woman! Excuse my pun, but what a grace and blessing from Allah (swt) this period of time is!

This is what I learned in only two months…

When the time of the month comes, my body gets so sore and tense. My shoulders ache; my head aches; my abdomen cramps up and I feel so moody and weary! One day I was performing salaah and I wondered why I felt so dizzy. It was difficult to kneel down to go into sudjood (prostration); I felt like an old lady! The mystery was solved when I discovered shortly afterwards that hayd had come.  My first reaction was to go: “Oh, yippee!!! I can rest now! In the morning I can sleep in later; at night I can read for longer…”

It was actually a good feeling – for a while! As much as it is a great blessing to rest, that evening I was to go to masjid for a class, and was so looking forward to salaah there in congregation – but I had to sit out. This was hard! And if it wasn’t that, it was the thought that I couldn’t touch my beloved Qur’an for a week!

Hard as hayd can be, it is a blessing in disguise. I have more time to read good Islamic books and study more about my new Deen, learn my Arabic, and so on. After the first (and physically worst) three days pass, I begin to look forward to the time when I can spread my prayer mat and don my prayer-clothes and long khimar; when I can read my Qur’an again… These desires grow in the days that pass; days in which I read some favourite Qur’anic ayats which I scribbled down on pieces of paper from the English translation, stored in a little box for this time. (This would be a lovely subject for another time…!)

And then comes that blessed day… You have just had enough of hearing the athaan on the radio and not being able to respond to it… when your period is over. You go outside and tell the blue sky and the birds that you can pray again, and whoop for joy, saying “Subhan’Allah! Alhamdulillah!” over and over again! Then you jump longingly into that ghusl shower; a tunnel taking you to the other side of purity. As the water flows and cleanses your entire body, you rejoice as if you are going to enter the paradise of Jannah! Then, oh, what JOY! You can pray again!

I spread out my mat (which has its own story for another time!), put on my prayer outfit, tune my radio and follow the athaan, excitement welling up from my heart, switch off the radio and pray. Then I get up and reach for the Glorious Qur’an, waiting for me on its high shelf, recite the Ta’awwud and Bismillah, take it to my mat, kiss it and open it. As my fingers touch the blessed pages, I smile from the depth of my heart, before reading. It is as a reunion between lover and beloved! Yes, I have returned. Returned from my confinement into freedom. I am back in the main stream of Islamic life. Alhamdulillah!

Is this not such a privilege granted to us women? Allah Ta’ala has indeed blessed us. He has given us the opportunity to rest, and also the opportunity to be grateful for the gift of Salaah. In the week we cannot pray, we can reflect on the blessings of prayer. We can thank Allah Ta’ala for such a gift and prepare our hearts to be grateful, so that next time we step into the rhythms of salaah, we step into it with renewed eagerness and vigour.