If Islam does not see women as inherently unclean, why can't menstruating women pray?
A lot of people, when trying to point out what they percieve to be Islam treating women as inherently inferior, point to the fact that menstruating women aren't allowed to pray (perform salat, not making du'a or supplication... the latter is allowed at all times, of course!) and, at the end of their period, are supposed to perform ghusl or greater ritual abulution.
This is, of course, ignoring the fact that Islam never commands to separate menstruating women from men or to send them off to live in a house in a sort of bizarre quarantine as was the habit of Arab Jews at the time of Islam's early days. Nor does God or his Prophet (peace be upon him) ever claim that menstruating women have a touch of death that will spoil any food they attempt to make, kill plants, or anything like that!
The command that men to keep away from their wives during menstruation because their menstruation is painful is just very polite speech for "don't have sexual relations with your wives while they're on their period, periods are very often painful and you could hurt them." That's what "touching" is often used to mean too... it's just a polite way of referring to sexual intercourse and the like. ^^; This is further explained in hadeeth/traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) about how he did touch one of his wives while she was menstruating, but that she never removed the cloth from around her waist (... which is politely conveying, again, that only sexual intercourse is forbidden during menstruation!).
One of his wives also stayed beside him while he prayed, so clearly, the menstruating woman herself is not this unclean thing that should be avoided by people who have the state of ritual purity neccessary to pray.
So, if Islam doesn't see menstruating women as unclean inherently, why can't they pray? Because blood is one of the things that break ritual purity! The same goes for men who get cuts or wounds. If they previously had whudhu, it would be broken by the bleeding, and they would have to clean the cut to the best of their ability, then, they would have to repeat whudhu (lesser ritual abulution) before they're allowed to pray/perform salat!
Other things that break ritual purity, aside from blood, are expelling waste (defecating and urinating), breaking wind (that'd be farting ^^;;), deep sleep ( because you're not aware of what you do in your sleep! )... and other simple things! Islam's big on cleanliness. ^^; It doesn't consider human sexuality in and of itself anything filthy or sinful, provided it stays in the boundaries set by the religion, and hearts and their inclinations are decided by God alone... it's just that certain fluids and the like are considered impure because they break whudhu or ghusl. The emphasis on cleanliness and all the repetitive washing also makes even more sense when you consider that Islam was revealed in a time that Arabs had yet to know savon... or any other kind of soap, really!
So, why do women have to perform greater ritual abulution (ghusl) before they pray instead of simply preforming lesser ritual abulution (whudhu) like one does before almost every prayer? Well, ghusl involves washing the face, arms, and feet... but ghusl is like an expanded version. When performing ghusl, one also washes their privates and it is the Prophet's tradition to also clean the navel (wait, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did ghusl too?! This'll be explained if anyone's confused, so don't worry!) and washes/soaks the hair to the roots, as well as spilling water over both sides of the body... so it's like whudhu plus a shower (unless you do the shorter version, which is more like a specialized shower... followed by ordinary whudhu at a later time)! So, it's more complete and more appropriate for the task, considering what menstruation involves.
Now! Men also perform ghusl, because there's another occasion in which one needs to perform it before they can pray: if a man or a woman has had sexual intercourse or had otherwise become sexually aroused to a certain point (the specifics are a bit more complicated and would need a talk of its own... and it'd be out of the scope of my little argument here!).
That'd explain the "why do you have to wash the whole body and the hair to the roots?" aspect. xD;
So, ghusl isn't even a woman's only thing!
And the command to not pray while on one's period is, again, because it can be painful and too difficult to accomplish for many women, because as stated in the Quran, menstruation is painful.
In the case of istihadha, any form of abnormally prolonged (menorrhagia) or non-menstrual bleeding, it's actually allowed for a woman to perform her obligatory prayers, without the need for performing ghusl, provided that she keeps her clothes clean of it (which is easier to do nowadays, when pads and the like are more widespread!).
SO, YEAH. Hope this post wasn't too boring a read. ^^;
( And now, I'll have a handy post to link to whenever someone tries to use that argument~! )
This is, of course, ignoring the fact that Islam never commands to separate menstruating women from men or to send them off to live in a house in a sort of bizarre quarantine as was the habit of Arab Jews at the time of Islam's early days. Nor does God or his Prophet (peace be upon him) ever claim that menstruating women have a touch of death that will spoil any food they attempt to make, kill plants, or anything like that!
The command that men to keep away from their wives during menstruation because their menstruation is painful is just very polite speech for "don't have sexual relations with your wives while they're on their period, periods are very often painful and you could hurt them." That's what "touching" is often used to mean too... it's just a polite way of referring to sexual intercourse and the like. ^^; This is further explained in hadeeth/traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) about how he did touch one of his wives while she was menstruating, but that she never removed the cloth from around her waist (... which is politely conveying, again, that only sexual intercourse is forbidden during menstruation!).
One of his wives also stayed beside him while he prayed, so clearly, the menstruating woman herself is not this unclean thing that should be avoided by people who have the state of ritual purity neccessary to pray.
So, if Islam doesn't see menstruating women as unclean inherently, why can't they pray? Because blood is one of the things that break ritual purity! The same goes for men who get cuts or wounds. If they previously had whudhu, it would be broken by the bleeding, and they would have to clean the cut to the best of their ability, then, they would have to repeat whudhu (lesser ritual abulution) before they're allowed to pray/perform salat!
Other things that break ritual purity, aside from blood, are expelling waste (defecating and urinating), breaking wind (that'd be farting ^^;;), deep sleep ( because you're not aware of what you do in your sleep! )... and other simple things! Islam's big on cleanliness. ^^; It doesn't consider human sexuality in and of itself anything filthy or sinful, provided it stays in the boundaries set by the religion, and hearts and their inclinations are decided by God alone... it's just that certain fluids and the like are considered impure because they break whudhu or ghusl. The emphasis on cleanliness and all the repetitive washing also makes even more sense when you consider that Islam was revealed in a time that Arabs had yet to know savon... or any other kind of soap, really!
So, why do women have to perform greater ritual abulution (ghusl) before they pray instead of simply preforming lesser ritual abulution (whudhu) like one does before almost every prayer? Well, ghusl involves washing the face, arms, and feet... but ghusl is like an expanded version. When performing ghusl, one also washes their privates and it is the Prophet's tradition to also clean the navel (wait, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did ghusl too?! This'll be explained if anyone's confused, so don't worry!) and washes/soaks the hair to the roots, as well as spilling water over both sides of the body... so it's like whudhu plus a shower (unless you do the shorter version, which is more like a specialized shower... followed by ordinary whudhu at a later time)! So, it's more complete and more appropriate for the task, considering what menstruation involves.
Now! Men also perform ghusl, because there's another occasion in which one needs to perform it before they can pray: if a man or a woman has had sexual intercourse or had otherwise become sexually aroused to a certain point (the specifics are a bit more complicated and would need a talk of its own... and it'd be out of the scope of my little argument here!).
That'd explain the "why do you have to wash the whole body and the hair to the roots?" aspect. xD;
So, ghusl isn't even a woman's only thing!
And the command to not pray while on one's period is, again, because it can be painful and too difficult to accomplish for many women, because as stated in the Quran, menstruation is painful.
In the case of istihadha, any form of abnormally prolonged (menorrhagia) or non-menstrual bleeding, it's actually allowed for a woman to perform her obligatory prayers, without the need for performing ghusl, provided that she keeps her clothes clean of it (which is easier to do nowadays, when pads and the like are more widespread!).
SO, YEAH. Hope this post wasn't too boring a read. ^^;
( And now, I'll have a handy post to link to whenever someone tries to use that argument~! )