Girls’ first periods are a universal rite of passage. Menarche indicates the body’s capacity to ovulate and eventually reproduce biologically. However, this milestone’s social and cultural significance may vary significantly.
A menstruating girl represents the heritage and bloodline’s survival in some cultures, like the Maoris’. The first bleed, for some indigenous people of the Americas, occurs at the time of their spiritual initiation. Menstruation is thought to have a significant role in restoring one’s vitality in China.
According to their cultural heritage or the lack of cultural lineages brought on by colonization, migration, and conflict, attitudes toward menstruation vary significantly among Muslims.
For instance, I can name towns in the United States that regularly host elaborate period parties or galas for young women, much like the early Muslims in Medina. And in the same country, I’ve heard of communities where women continue to pretend to be menstrual during Ramadan while still hiding their menstrual status.
We can draw inspiration and guidance from the Holy Quran and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad to dissuade these contradictory conceptions of Muslim women’s menstruation. They provide a blueprint for period education that can be used to put an end to period shame and end period poverty.
In Islam, menstruation occurs.
Menstruation is used as a determinant of rite and ritual in Islamic tradition. Women who menstruate are exempt from the Ramadan fast and the five daily prayers that are prescribed by the Quran. At this time, circumambulating the Kaaba while carrying out the Hajj in Mecca is prohibited.
However, the Prophetic tradition provides an explanation of how the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) interacted with menstruating women in his life to understand what menstruation meant for the early Muslim community.
Umayyah bint Qays, a girl who rode to battle with the women of her tribe seated on the Prophet Muhammad’s animal, is an example. Her first period, which she was seated next to the Prophet Muhammad, soiled her clothes and her luggage.
The Prophet Muhammad inquired if Umayyah had menstrual bleeding after she noticed her shifting in her seat and feeling awkward in her seat, and she responded positively. Then, according to her Prophet, she was gently instructed to use salt and water to wash both the soiled items and herself.
A necklace was taken from the spoils of war and put on Umayyah’s neck by the Prophet himself when the conflict came to an end triumphantly for the Muslims. She kept this gift dear, neither letting it go out of her body until she passed away.
The Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha interact with ease when it comes to discussing and acknowledging menstruation. While she was having her period, the two experienced intense tenderness.
Her husband would put his mouth on the place where she ate and drank when they shared a meal and a drinking cup. He would also prop up his wife while she was menstruating, cuddling, and being close while reciting the Quran.
Aisha was overcome with dissatisfaction during the Prophet Muhammad’s singular Hajj pilgrimage after a year of anticipation and longing for the completion of this rite. He sincerely inquired as to whether she was menstruating, and he comforted her by saying, “This is a matter decreed for the daughters of Adam.”
These examples demonstrate that menstruation is not a sign of shame, sorrow, or embarrassment in the eyes of Islamic tradition.
Embracing a positive legacy from the past
Although the Prophet’s example can be used as a model for improvement, it is often the perceptions of our own menstrual cycles that are influenced by those around us.
By providing girls with access to period products, hygienic facilities, and access to menstrual health education, organizations, institutions, and schools help raise awareness of menstrual health.
However, the majority of our menstrual concepts come before a class. The bleeding of our mother is the first cycle we are aware of. Setting expectations to share or conceal, to push through, to rejoice or lament depends on how she feels, how she interacts with her own monthly period.
The saying that mothers are the first madrassa, or school, is well-known among Muslims. This includes body literacy, roles, responsibilities, self-care, and self-esteem as well as information and ethics.
Mothers play a crucial role in preparing girls for puberty and menstruation, so they are crucial. Every parent and guardian should treat preparing girls for their first periods as a form of human rights. Girls can’t access social media or their peers, both of whom are reliable sources of menstrual health information, without this instruction. Starting with their own home, every family has the chance to break the cycle of historical shame.
They frequently get to decide how their daughter experiences her first period. Unprepared for this situation, she might be a girl who discovers a red stain on her underwear, which could cause her to experience emotions similar to those experienced in other blood-related incidents, such as wounds, injuries, and pain. She might keep this secret a secret by stuffing her underwear with layers of tissue paper or socks without telling anyone.
Or she might just be a girl who anticipates the unexpected and feels giddy with excitement and intrigue. She can be relieved that she is now a part of the family of older sisters, cousins, aunts, and mothers who already promised her a happy day.
In both cases, those who live in the situation influence what she believes and anticipates going forward. She could simply be told to keep her period a shameful secret and given the location of the pads. Or her family could support, acknowledge her, and celebrate her.
Let’s all come to the same conclusion on this Menstrual Hygiene Day: neither the boys and men who care about them nor the girls and women who bleed do so.
We must remember that people make decisions, which will improve access to menstrual health resources and end period poverty. They were created by former female peers, who were once girls, who were shamed or celebrated, and former male counterparts, who were once boys, who were either unconsciously unaware or consciously educated about the daily realities of their female peers.
We have a chance to heal society and the people who form families by reviving Prophetic examples of showing tenderness to menstruating girls and women, sharing gifts at menarche, and acknowledging that menstruation is a divinely designed and life-giving process. We can and must take steps to end menstrual disparity and promote menstrual equality for everyone.
