Aunt Flo came to visit and I forgot.
Now I don't think God will banish me into eternal darkness for forgetting that I can't read the Qur'an while Aunt Flo is visiting. That's not the problem. The problem is I am annoyed because now I can't read the Qur'an. I do finally get the point of the whole "no salat, no Qu'ran during Flo's visit" concept. It makes sense. It is a bodily fluid so just like any bodily fluid you would make sure it was cleaned off before reading or praying. Bad part is, Aunt Flo doesn't leave right away, she loves to stick around for a week. I'm also a bit frustrated because the prayer I desperately need again, "Prayer for the removal of worries" has suras and ayahs from the Qur'an in it and I need my Qur'an to look them up. This means no prayer, but I NEED IT. Le Sigh.
But I have made an interesting observation:
I miss the Qur'an. I am really starting to enjoy it. I particularly enjoy the half hour every evening that I sit and read it. Now, for about 5 days, I cannot. Sad face.
Also, Aunt Flo reminded me that I found something interesting a long time ago that I wanted to share with you all. Apparently, you can pray depending on severity of Aunt Flo's stay:
Haiz - Normal period length for the individual. During this, women do not perform their 5 daily prayers (Du'a is allowed). For most this is 5-7 days.
Istehaza - If the period extends beyond its normal length or is irregular:
a) In small quantities, insufficient to wet a cotton pad through
b) In somewhat larger quantities, enough to soak a cotton pad, but not completely
c) In large quantity
The discharge of Istehaza is usually not so dark in color and not so dense as the blood of Haiz. In the case of Istehaza in small quantity all that is necessary is to change the sanitary pad and it is not necessary to take a bath. In the case of larger quantity a bath should be taken in the morning and the sanitary pad be changed, but only the Wuzu should be performed before each prayer. In the case of Istehaza excessive discharge of blood is in such quantities as to soak through the sanitary pad completely, a bath must be taken before each prayer, without which the prayer would be invalid.
Know Your Islam - Yousuf N. Lalljee
Just thought it was interesting. Somehow this passage made me ok with the no prayer thing. That and I read an article that I can no longer find that compared Haiz to being like any other bodily fluid. That made me feel less attacked and made it seem more practical.
Anywho food for thought.
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Could you look up the surahs & ayahs you need on the net? You wouldn't be *touching* a Qur'an.
ReplyDeleteYes I realized that later LOL. I totally can do that providing I don't read the surahs and ayahs in arabic...and since I don't know how to read Arabic without butchering it that will not be a problem :).
ReplyDeleteWhere do you get this idea from? The last time I checked, it seemed like even among the traditionists there was no consensus over whether women can touch a Quran on their period. It's something I have disregarded at this point as it makes no sense to me. In fact I remember seeing a hadith posted somewhere where Aisha was asked to fetch the Quran scrolls during her period.
ReplyDeleteI know you are looking more at the Shia tradition though, and I don't know what they say about it...
If I am not clean enough to pray, I'm probaby not clean enough to read the Qur'an either. This is my understanding:
ReplyDeleteIf the Qur'an has the Arabic written in it you can't touch it nor can you read the Arabic because you are not completely clean. If its an English only translation its fine. My understanding is both Shi'a and Sunni say this. Now I could be TOTALLY wrong and would love to be wrong in this case because it is very frustrating to not be able to read it for a few days just because my Qur'an has the Arabic written in it. I think theorectically if I can read the book without touching the Arabic text I can read it.
I dunno I'm about to throw this concept out the window. I think I was taught something incorrectly. I will have to ask Sis about it. I discussed this with a man, he probably gave me the wrong information. Because if Aisha was allowed to do it then we should be allowed as well.
Yes I am studying the Shia school but I am also studying the Sunni school. I wanna be both :) And yes, I like Aisha....and My Love doesn't get it at all why I like her LOL. That reminds me I need a book on her....
So it was a mat and not a Quran in the hadith, but I think it's an interesting (and slightly humorous) one:
ReplyDelete"The messenger of Allah (SAW) said to me: Get me the mat from the mosque. I said: I am menstruating. Upon this he remarked: Your menstruation is not in your hands." (Sahih Muslim)
Got this from
http://www.muslimaccess.com/articles/Women/women_touching_quran.asp
which has some other interesting things to say.
It frustrates me that so much of what is taught as mainstream seems not to be backed up, or is hard to find the backing. I am a bit stubborn so I don't follow things I don't understand. :P
A lot of it is cultural or just got learned. I go by this mantra "If it disagrees with the Qur'an then it disagrees with Islam". Its not that black and white but you get the gist (plus it kinda rhymes). There are SO MANY hadiths from so many different people and they constantly contradict. You cannot follow them all, you would go crazy and have to lock yourself in your home for fear of doing something wrong. A lot of things can easily be disproven with the Qur'an but they are so engrained into the religion (like the situation with dogs, arts, or music) that it is hard to get people to see other options.
ReplyDeleteIn the near future I will be making a post about what would happen if you tried to avoid everything that could possibly be haram. I still find it rather interesting what is considered haram sometimes.
That hadith is interesting. Im not sure what it means exactly. Would love to know. Very well could mean we are still allowed to touch it and read it, just not out loud. Sure would make sense.
Just read the article link. Yep, I was taught wrong. We still aren't allowed to do salat in the traditional sense but we can indeed touch and read the Qur'an. Perhaps this is yet another learned and engrained thing that simply gets passed down.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah!
"A lot of things can easily be disproven with the Qur'an but they are so engrained into the religion (like the situation with dogs, arts, or music) that it is hard to get people to see other options."
ReplyDeleteExactly. A lot of things I accepted as being "textbook Islam" from the start of my learning, I now question. Even the notion of 5 pillars - where does that come from? These things are hard to check out because they are such common knowledge.
"...we can indeed touch and read the Qur'an."
According to that article at least. I'm sure there are others that say we can't. In the end I suppose we have to weigh up all the arguments and decide for ourselves.
Yeah I guess thats how it goes. You can find the 5 pillars in the Qur'an in a roundabout way. but no the Qur'an does not come out and say "here are the 5 pillars of your religion". Except for Hajj, the first 4 are present in Judaism and Christianity as well, but in there own way. My understanding is the 5 pillars comes from Sahih Muslim.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Pillars_of_Islam Wikipedia agrees lol
Although Wikipedia says there are 8-12 "pillars" in the Shia tradition and my Shia friends taught me it was 5. But my book has 10 O_O 5 main, 5 lesser. And the Shahada is left out, yet I was taught that was the most important and necessary pillar. Weird.
In the end no religion is perfect. You gotta do what seems right to you and what brings to into a better relationship with God. Whatever that may mean.
Thanks for the info about the 5 pillars. I had no idea there were more than 5 for some people!
ReplyDeleteI read that article more closely and it seems to contradict itself a few times about the verse 56:78 - "which none but the pure can touch". I suspect the article is bits and pieces from different sources cobbled together.
I prefer Muhammad Asad's interpretation of the verse, in his explanatory note he says: "I.e., which only the pure of heart can truly understand and derive benefit from."
Yes his interpretation makes the most sense.
ReplyDelete