Women's Menstruation During Rituals: A Case Study of al-Furuq fi al-Fiqh and the story of Hawwa and Adam a.s.
This is an excerpt I took from Wolfhart Heinrichs chapter in book entitled Structuring the Law: Remarks on the Furuq Literature edited by I.R.Netton in Studies in the Honour of C.E. Bosworth Volume 1, Brill, 2000. pp.339-340.
"The menstruating woman has to make up for the fast [missed due to the prohibition to fast during menstruation], but not for the prayer, although both are bodily worship ('ibada badaniyya), simply because toil attaches to the make-up prayer due to its repetition [throughout the year] - so if making up for it were incumbent upon her, that would be a burden on her- and also because, whenever she is preoccupied by it, she would be distracted from her concerns and what is fitting of her. Not so the fast, since there is no burden in making up for it, since it does not repeat itself throughout the year, and sometimes she will menstruate during it [the fast] and sometimes she will not.
Alert: The author of al-Qabas says: Anecdote (nukta): From among the strange things is the fact that one of the teachers of law was asked: why does the menstrua not make up for the prayer, just as she makes up for the fast, both being obligatory?- He answered that saying: Yes, because Hawwa' - may God be pleased with her!- was overcome by menstruation while she was in the midst of prayer. So she asked Adam - peace be upon him! - about that and God inspired him [saying]: Order her to stop the prayer. - He continued: Then menstruation overcame her, while so was fasting, so she stopped fasting in analogy to the prayer, without having asked about it. So God inspired Adam: Order her to make up for the fast; this being a punishment for the omission of the question. - [al-Wansharisi continues:] We say: This is an empty claim that rages far and wide. There is no proof for it nor any transmission or report. This is one of the most momentous proofs of the Zahirites for the voidness of analogy".
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