that you travel with me, or I divorce you?” This is problematic, because if he says this, its implication is that he is compelling her to relinquish the condition against her will. If he intends to threaten her so that she will waive this condition, that is not permissible. But if he says it in earnest, not as a challenge, and says that he cannot control himself and must have a wife when he travels, saying to her, “Either travel with me, or else I shall marry another woman and divorce you”—meaning that he does not intend to force or coerce her—then we say: there is nothing wrong with this.

His statement, “It is forbidden to have intercourse with her during menstruation,” means that it is forbidden to have intercourse with one’s wife while she is menstruating, for Allah the Exalted says:

“And they ask you concerning menstruation. Say: ‘It is harm; so keep away from women during menstruation, and do not approach them until they are pure. Then, when they have purified themselves, go to them as Allah has commanded you.’” [al-Baqarah 2:222]

That is, “until they are pure” means until they become free of menstruation; and “when they have purified themselves” means when they have performed ghusl. The verse is an explicit text. It mentions the underlying reason before the ruling in order to alert the mind to that reason, so that a person will find the act repugnant before knowing its legal ruling. This is one of the rhetorical devices of eloquence. Ordinarily, the ruling is mentioned first and then its reason is given; but here the reason is mentioned so that the ruling comes to a soul already averse to violating it, since anyone who knows that something is harmful will avoid it.

Allah’s saying, “It is harm,” means harm to both spouses: the husband is harmed, and the wife is harmed as well. Moreover, it is impure blood, not pure blood, for the Prophet ﷺ instructed a menstruating woman, if her blood stained her garment, to wash it and then pray in it (1).