has already performed the circumambulation of ifādah.’ He said, ‘Then she will not hold us back.’”

If she menstruates before the circumambulation of ifādah, she must remain until she becomes pure and performs it, if that is possible. Those accompanying her must also remain for her sake if they can. When the roads were safe in the time of the early generations, and people travelled to and from Mecca throughout the year, a woman could remain with her mahram (a male relative permanently forbidden to her in marriage) and the man providing her hired transport until she became pure, then perform circumambulation. The scholars therefore used to instruct women to do this. Sometimes they would instruct the leader to wait for menstruating women until they became pure, just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Will she hold us back?”

Abū Hurayra—may Allah be pleased with him—said: “A leader, yet not a leader: a woman accompanying a group who begins menstruating before the circumambulation of ifādah, so they wait for her until she becomes pure and performs circumambulation”—or words to that effect.

Nowadays, however, many women, or most of them, cannot remain behind after the caravan leaves. The caravan departs one, two or three days after the days of Tashrīq, whereas she may have begun menstruating on the eve of the Day of Sacrifice and may not become pure for seven days or more. She cannot remain in Mecca until she becomes pure, either because she lacks the means to support herself or because she has no travelling companions who will stay with her and return with her. She cannot stay in Mecca because she lacks one or the other, or because she fears harm to herself and her property if she stays and returns after the caravan.

As for her travelling companions, sometimes they cannot wait for her, either because they are unable to stay and make the return journey on their own, or because they fear harm to themselves