Muslim women defend 'right to not fast' while menstruating

'No chocolate?' Muslim women hit back at allegations that Islam is sexist because they cannot fast when they are on their period.

Narrated

2 min read

The New Arab

18 May, 2018

Some said Islam is sexist for not allowing menstruating women to fast [Getty]

For the past few days, Muslim women on Twitter have been wittingly hitting back at questions surrounding a law which excuses menstruating women from fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, which some users have denounced as a sexist.

Under their bizarre logic, the fact that women are "left out" from fasting - which would in essence deprive them of water, pain killers and even chocolate (yes, chocolate!) for the whole day - exposes the sexist nature of Islam, because it allegedly highlight how menstruating women are perceived as impure.

But under Islamic law, there are two reasons menstruating women are prohibited from fasting.

According to Islam those with vulnerable bodies, including the sick, the elderly, children and pregnant women, as well as those breastfeeding, are prohibited from fasting. Due to the pain endured during menstruation, women undergoing their cycle are also exempt from taking part.

At the same time, all forms of genital bodily fluids for both men and women are deemed impure, according to Islamic jurisprudence. For this reason, ejaculating (for both men and women) and menstruating can break a person's fast.

The debate started when this tweet went viral:

Twitter Post

The double standard and political agenda behind this critique was too obvious for some:

Twitter Post

Also the inaccuracy behind the claim that Islam views menstruating women as impure:

Twitter Post