In the name of Allah, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.

In the name of Allah, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.
Can a menstruating woman fast?
By Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi
Oxford
Translated by Ayesha Iqbal

The question: Some people have claimed that it is necessary for the menstruating woman to fast, and she has no exemption not to fast unless she is travelling or unwell. They claim there is no evidence to prevent her from fasting. 

The answer: These supposed scholars don’t have an ounce of knowledge. It’s not permissible for Muslims to take their religion from anyone except the reliable righteous scholars. If ignorant people begin issuing legal rulings in a matter of the religion of Allāh, they will make errors and will mislead others. 

It is obligatory on the menstruating woman to fast Ramaḍān, however it is not permissible for her to perform it at that time. It is obligatory on her to make up those fasts on other days after Ramaḍān ends. The evidence for this can be found in both the Qurʾān and Sunnah. This is a matter on which the legal jurists and ḥadīth scholars have agreed upon since the time of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ until our time today. 

Evidence from the Qurʾān:

The Qurʾān has a way of explaining rulings. Sometimes the Qurʾān will simply outline the ruling at a relevant juncture. At other times, two rulings will be mentioned in two distinct places, but when taken together, they provide evidence for a third ruling.  In that, they are like the two propositions of a syllogism.

It is mentioned in Sūrat al-Baqarah Āyah 187 that fasting is refraining (imsāk) from eating, drinking and marital relations during daylight hours. Allāh the Most High says: It has been made permissible for you to be intimate with your wives during the nights preceding the fast. Your spouses are a garment for you as you are for them. Allāh knows that you were deceiving yourselves. So He has accepted your repentance and pardoned you. So now you may be intimate with them and seek what Allāh has prescribed for you. ˹You may˺ eat and drink until you see the light of dawn breaking the darkness of night, then complete the fast until nightfall. Do not be intimate with your spouses while you are meditating in the mosques. These are the limits set by Allāh, so do not exceed them. This is how Allāh makes His revelations clear to people, so they may become mindful ˹of Him˺. (al-Baqarah Āyah 187)

In Sūrat al-Baqarah Āyah 222, it is mentioned that menstruating women cannot engage in intimacy. Allāh the Most High says: They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about menstruation. Say, “Beware of its harm! So keep away, and do not have intercourse with your wives during their monthly cycles until they are purified. When they purify themselves, then you may approach them in the manner specified by Allah. Surely Allah loves those who always turn to Him in repentance and those who purify themselves.” (al-Baqarah: Āyah 222)

Taken together, these verses indicate that if the menstruating woman is unable to legally engage in intimacy, she therefore cannot legally refrain from it. If she cannot be deemed to be refraining from intimacy, then she cannot be deemed to be fasting. 

If a woman experiences menstruation during part of the day, the fast of that entire day is invalid as fasting is a single indivisible act. Hence, in this regard, Ḥajj and ʿUmrah cannot be compared to fasting. The difference between the two becomes quite clear on further analysis.
 
Evidence from the Sunnah: 

The following ḥadīth is reported by both Imām al-Bukhārī and Muslim in their Ṣaḥīḥ collections. Abū Saʿīd Al-Khudrī reported that the Messenger asked the women: “Is it not the case that when a woman menstruates she neither prays nor fasts?”. The women replied in the affirmative.

Imām al-Bukhārī and Muslim also reported the following ḥadīth from Muʿādhah: I asked ʿĀishah: Why is it that menstruating women make up their prayers but do not make up their fasts. She said: “Are you a Ḥarūriyyah?” I said I am not a Ḥarūriyyah, however I’m asking to find out. She said: “That used to happen to us (i.e. menstruation).

We were commanded to make up the fasts, but we were not commanded to make up the prayers.”

Consensus of scholars:

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said in Al-Tahmīd: “There is consensus that the menstruating woman does not fast during the days of her menstruation, and that she makes up her fasts and does not make up her prayers. There is no difference of opinion in this, praise be to Allāh. Whatever the Muslims have agreed and convened upon is the truth, and is irrefutably decisive.”

Ibn Ḥazm said in Marātib al-Ijmāʿ (p. 40): “They agreed that the menstruating woman makes up the fasts she did not complete during her menstruation, and they agreed that the menstruating woman does not fast, and that women experiencing postnatal bleeding do not fast.”

Ibn al-Mundhir said in his book al-Ijmāʿ (p. 42): “They agreed that the obligation of prayer does not come into effect on a menstruating woman during the days of her menstruation and that therefore she is not obligated to make up those prayers. They agreed that she is obligated to make up the fasts which she did not complete when she was menstruating in the month of Ramaḍān.” 

Ibn Qudāmah said in al-Mughnī: “The people of knowledge have agreed that fasting is not permitted for women who are menstruating or experiencing postnatal bleeding, and they do not fast in Ramaḍān. They agreed that these women make up for their Ramaḍān fasts. If women who are menstruating or experiencing postnatal bleeding were to fast, it would not be permissible for them.”

Ibn Qaṭṭān said in al-Iqnāʿ fī masā-’il al-Ijmāʿ (1/230): “They agreed that the menstruating woman does not fast.”

al-Nawawī said in al-Majmūʿ: “The ummah have agreed upon the prohibition of fasting on menstruating women and women experiencing postnatal bleeding, and that their fast is not valid.”