Irshad al-Abid fi Hukm Mukth al-Junub wal-Haid wal-Nufasa fi al-Masajid
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- Irshad al-Abid fi Hukm Mukth al-Junub wal-Haid wal-Nufasa fi al-Masajid
Irshad al-Abid fi Hukm Mukth al-Junub wal-Haid wal-Nufasa fi al-Masajid (Guiding the Worshipper Concerning the Ruling on the Staying of the Ritually Impure, Menstruating, and Postpartum Women in Mosques) is a legal treatise authored by Abu 'Amr Sharif Murad. The work examines Islamic jurisprudence regarding the prohibition of staying or lingering inside mosques for individuals in a state of major ritual impurity (janabah), menstruating women (ha'id), and postpartum women (nufasa').
Background and Purpose
Sharif Murad wrote the treatise in response to a view circulating among many Muslim women that menstruating women are permitted to remain and sit in mosques without legal impediment. In the preface, he states that his objective was to compile scholarly consensus and rulings on this issue, document the arguments of contemporary and classical jurists who allow lingering in the mosque, and provide systematic refutations grounded in traditional Islamic sources.
Structure and Content
The book is arranged methodically into chapters addressing foundational definitions, juristic distinctions, and textual refutations:
Definitions and Legal Distinctions
The opening chapter defines the core legal terms:
- Janabah: Defined linguistically as distance (al-bu'd) and legally as the state resulting from seminal emission or sexual intercourse.
- Hayd: Defined linguistically as flowing (al-sayalan) and legally as the innate blood that exits the innermost womb of a healthy, mature woman.
The author emphasizes the technical distinction between merely entering (dukhul) or passing through (murur / 'ubur) a mosque and lingering or staying (mukth / lubth), noting that while entering may involve mere transit, staying involves settling and waiting. He argues that conflating these distinct actions leads to erroneous legal analogies.
Furthermore, he outlines why rulings for menstruating women differ from those for individuals in janabah, establishing that menstruation is legally graver (aghlaz). While a person in major impurity can perform ablution (wudu') to lighten their state—allowing certain actions such as sleeping or, in the Hanbali school, sitting in the mosque—ablution is neither valid nor effective for an actively bleeding woman.
Refutation of Permissive Arguments
In the second chapter, Murad addresses the argument of original permissibility (al-bara'a al-asliyya), which claims that no authentic evidence explicitly forbids menstruating women from remaining in the mosque. He refutes this through classical Quranic exegesis and prophetic traditions:
- Quranic Evidence: He analyzes Surah al-Nisa (4:43): يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقْرَبُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَأَنْتُمْ سُكَارَى حَتَّى تَعْلَمُوا مَا تَقُولُونَ وَلَا جُنُبًا إِلَّا عَابِرِي سَبِيلٍ حَتَّى تَغْتَسِلُوا ("O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying or in a state of janabah, except those passing through, until you have bathed"). Citing exegetes such as Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, he demonstrates that the majority interpret "prayer" here to include places of prayer (mosques), thereby forbidding staying inside while permitting only passage. He also incorporates interpretations from Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi and al-Shawkani to argue that this prohibition applies a fortiori to menstruating women due to their heavier impurity.
- Hadith Evidence: He cites multiple prophetic narrations, including the report of Umm 'Atiyyah commanding women to attend the Eid gathering while directing that menstruating women stay apart from the prayer area ( ويعتزل الحيض المصلى ).
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