First periods are a universal rite of passage for girls. Biologically, menarche indicates the body’s preparedness to ovulate and eventually reproduce. However, the social and cultural significance of this milestone can vary significantly.
In some cultures, like the Maoris’, a menstruating girl represents the survival and longevity of the heritage and bloodline. Among some Indigenous people of the Americas, the first bleed is the moment when the initiation into the community happens, embodying spiritual connection. In China, menstruation is believed to hold vast potential for rejuvenating one’s vital essence.
Among Muslims, attitudes towards menstruation vary greatly, shaped by cultural heritage or by the disconnect from cultural lineages caused by colonisation, migration and conflict.
For example, in the United States, where I am from, I can name communities that regularly host elaborate period parties – celebratory galas for girls who are coming of age – much like the early generations of Muslims in Medina. And in the same country, I know of communities where women still conceal the fact that they are menstruating by pretending to fast and pray in Ramadan.
To bridge these dissonant understandings of menstruation among Muslim women, we can seek inspiration and guidance from the Holy Quran and the Prophet Muhammad’s biography. They offer a blueprint for reparative and positive period education, which can be a vital tool for ending period shame and abolishing period poverty.
Menstruation in Islam
In the Islamic tradition, menstruation enters the discourse as a determinant of rite and ritual. The Quran dictates that menstruating women are relieved of the obligation to fast in Ramadan or perform the five prescribed daily prayers. Sexual intercourse is forbidden at this time as well as circumambulating the Kaaba while performing the Hajj in Mecca.
However, to understand what menstruation meant to the early Muslim community, we can look to the Prophetic tradition, which illustrates how the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) interacted with menstruating women in his life.
There is the example of Umayyah bint Qays, a girl who rode to battle with the women of her tribe seated on the Prophet Muhammad’s animal. Her first period appeared unannounced, soiling her garments and the Prophet Muhammad’s luggage, which she was seated beside.
Upon noticing Umayyah shifting in her seat with awkward discomfort, the Prophet Muhammad asked if she had menstrual bleeding, to which she responded affirmatively. She was then gently instructed by her Prophet to take water and salt to clean herself as well as the soiled articles.
When the battle concluded victoriously for the Muslims, a necklace was taken from the spoils of war and placed on Umayyah’s neck by the Prophet himself. She treasured this gift, neither removing it during her life, nor allowing it to be removed from her body in death.
Ease in discussing and acknowledging menstruation is also evident in interactions between the Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha. Expressions of tenderness abounded between the two while she was on her period.
She relates that when sharing a meal and drinking vessel, her husband would place his mouth on the place where she ate and drank from. During her menstruation, he would also lay on her lap while reciting the Quran and express intimacy through cuddling and closeness.
During the singular Hajj pilgrimage performed by the Prophet Muhammad after a year of anticipation and longing to fulfil this rite, the Prophet found Aisha despondent. He lovingly inquired if she was menstruating and comforted her by affirming, “This is a matter decreed for the daughters of Adam.”
All of these examples demonstrate that per the Islamic tradition, menstruation is not a cause for despair, sorrow or embarrassment.
Embracing a period-positive legacy
While we have the Prophet’s example to look up to and learn from, the reality is that perceptions of menstruation are often shaped by others around us.
Organisations, institutions and schools play a role in menstrual health awareness by offering menstrual health education, access to period products and hygienic facilities for girls to use to change their menstrual products.
However, most of our ideas about menstruation come before a lesson in school. The cycle we know first is the cycle that brought us into being – the bleeding of our mother. How she feels, shifts and lives with her own monthly period serves as an introductory lesson, setting expectations to share or conceal, to slow down or push through, to rejoice or to lament.
It is a well-known adage among Muslims that mothers are a child’s first madrassa, or school. This not only applies to information and ethics but also body literacy, roles, responsibilities, self-care and self-esteem.
As such, mothers have a pivotal role in preparing girls for puberty and menstruation. Every parent and guardian should regard preparing girls for their first periods as observing their human rights. Without this instruction, girls can turn to social media or their peers, neither of which are reliable sources of menstrual health information. Every family has an opportunity to break the cycle of period shame by starting within their own home.
Very often it is up to them to decide how their daughter experiences her first period. She could be a girl who discovers a red stain on her underwear, and, unprepared for this moment, can slip into emotions connected with other encounters with blood – harm, injury and pain. She might conceal this discovery by rolling wads of tissue paper or socks into her underwear, afraid to tell anyone.
Or she can be a girl who is prepared for this moment and feels a giddy excitement and intrigue when it comes. She can be delighted to be joining the sisterhood of older sisters, cousins, aunts and mothers who had already told her this day would come.
In both cases, the people around her shape her beliefs and expectations of this moment. She could just be shown where the pads are and told to keep her period as a shameful secret. Or she could be celebrated, recognised and supported by her family.
On this Menstrual Hygiene Day, let us agree that concealing menstruation serves no one – neither the girls and women who bleed nor the boys and men who care for them.
To improve access to menstrual health resources and abolish period poverty, we must remember a key point: Policies are made by people. They are made by women who were once girls who were shamed or celebrated and men who were once boys either obliviously unaware or consciously educated about the monthly reality of their female peers.
By reviving Prophetic examples of showing tenderness to menstruating girls and women, sharing gifts at menarche and acknowledging menstruation as a divinely designed and life-giving process, we have an opportunity to heal the culture that shapes society and the individuals who form families. We can and must take action towards ending period shame and ensuring menstrual equity for all.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
