does not regard ritual purity as a condition. Indeed, his position implies that she may circumambulate when there is a need, just as she may enter the mosque when there is a need. Allah Most High commanded that it be purified for those who circumambulate, those who remain there in devotion, and those who bow and prostrate. Ritual purity is not a condition for remaining there in devotion, nor is purification from minor ritual impurity obligatory for such a person, by agreement of the Muslims. If a menstruating woman observing a devotional retreat is compelled by need to remain there, she may do so. As for those who bow and prostrate, they are those who pray, and ritual purity is a condition for prayer by agreement of the Muslims. A menstruating woman neither performs the prayers nor makes them up.
There remains the person circumambulating: should this person be classed with someone remaining in devotion, with someone praying, or as a third category between the two? This is a matter for juristic reasoning.
The statement:
“Circumambulating the House is prayer”
is not authentically established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is, however, established from Ibn ʿAbbās, although it has also been narrated as a saying of the Prophet. Some jurists have transmitted that Ibn ʿAbbās said:
“If someone circumambulates the House while in a state of major ritual impurity, he owes a compensatory sacrifice.”
There is no doubt that the intended meaning is that circumambulation resembles prayer in certain respects, not that it is a form of the prayer for which ritual purity is a condition.
The same applies to his saying:
“When one of you comes to the mosque, he should not interlace his fingers, for he is in prayer,”
and his saying:
“A servant of Allah is in prayer for as long as prayer keeps him there, as long as he awaits prayer, and while he is making his way to prayer,”
and similar statements. Thus, a menstruating woman may not circumambulate except in a state of ritual purity, if that is possible for her, by agreement of