and it did not demean woman or consign her to a base, fallen station like the Jews did, for their altered scripture says: “If a woman has a discharge and that discharge is blood, she shall remain in her impurity for seven days; everyone who touches her shall be unclean, and whoever touches her bedding must wash his clothes and bathe in water. If a man lies with her while she is in her menstrual state, he too becomes unclean.”

By contrast, the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ—who sets the supreme example for his community in marital life—would kiss his wife while she was menstruating, recline beside her, invite her during her menses to lie close to him, recite the Quran while his head rested in her lap, allow her to comb his hair, and instruct her to tie a waist-wrapper so that he could enjoy whatever lay above it, all the while avoiding and refraining from intercourse.