Is it permissible for a menstruating woman to attend the study circles in the mosque?

The questioner : Some women who are menstruating ask whether it is permissible for them to attend the Friday lesson and the Saturday and Sunday lessons while they are menstruating. Is it permissible for them to attend inside the mosque?

The Shaykh : Yes, it is permissible for them to do so, because menstruation does not prevent a woman from attending gatherings of knowledge, even if they are in the mosques. This is because a woman entering the mosque at a time when there is no evidence prohibiting it is permissible; on the contrary, there is evidence indicating permissibility. Among this evidence are two hadiths from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). The first is when she performed Hajj with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and menstruation caught her while she was staying in a place near Mecca called Saraf. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to her and found her crying. He said to her: or did you have post-natal bleeding? She said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said: The point of this hadith is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not prevent her from entering the best of the mosques, which is the Sacred Mosque, but he prevented her from praying and circumambulating the Ka'bah. Thus, there is evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted her to enter the Sacred Mosque, but prevented her from prayer and circumambulation, which indicates that it is permissible for a woman—there is a mat there, she placed it here...—so this is the first hadith indicating that it is permissible for a menstruating woman to enter any mosque, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) to enter the Sacred Mosque while menstruating and did not prevent her except from prayer and circumambulation. Therefore, the ruling for other mosques is permissible a fortiori. As for the second hadith, it is also, as I hinted at earlier, from the narration of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). The first hadith is in Sahih al-Bukhari, and our second hadith is in Sahih Muslim. She said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to her one day: She said: "O Messenger of Allah, I am menstruating." He said (peace and blessings be upon him): The intended meaning of "menstruation" here is the blood of menstruation. The blood of a menstruating woman is undoubtedly impure, but the menstruating woman herself is not impure. Therefore, it does not follow that if impurity comes out of a person, the person themselves is impure. Thus, it is permissible for menstruating women to attend gatherings of knowledge.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. Even if these gatherings are in one of the houses of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), the ruling remains permissibility based on these two authentic hadiths. Added to this is the well-known principle among scholars that "the original ruling for things is permissibility" and "the original ruling is the purity of the conscience," unless evidence arises that contradicts these two principles. How much more so when evidence has arisen that supports these two principles. Thus, the answer to the question concludes that it is permissible for a menstruating woman to enter the mosque to listen to religious lessons and to hear the recitation of the Qur'an and the like. This is the answer to this question.

The questioner : There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim in which Umm Atiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) mentions that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ?

The Shaykh : Yes, that is right, meaning they do not pray. This is like the first hadith of Aisha: So the menstruating women were ordered to attend the prayer place of the Muslims, to attend their call and their congregation, but they do not participate with the Muslims in their prayer.

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And may the same be for you.