Failing to distinguish between making up the fast and making up the prayer is the position of the Khārijites, a school founded on excessive rigor and hardship.
ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—therefore said to Muʿādhah, “Are you a Harūrī woman? Do you believe as they believe and impose the same severity they impose? (1)”
Muʿādhah replied, “I am not a Harūrī; I am merely asking as a student who seeks guidance.”
ʿĀʾishah then explained, “Menstruation used to overtake us in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. We would abandon both fasting and prayer while it lasted. Later, he ﷺ would command us to make up the fast but would not command us to make up the prayer. Had making up the prayer been obligatory, he would have ordered it and would not have remained silent about it.”
In effect, she was saying: it is sufficient wisdom and sound judgment to comply with the Lawgiver’s commands and stay within His limits.
Points derived from the ḥadīth
- A menstruating woman must make up the fasts she missed but is not required to make up the prayers, because the five daily prayers are continual; repeating and making them up would involve considerable hardship.
- The Prophet’s ﷺ tacit approval of an action performed by his community counts as Sunnah.
- One should rebuke anyone who asks questions out of obstinacy and argumentative intent.
- A teacher should clarify matters for whoever genuinely seeks knowledge and guidance.
- The exemption of the menstruating woman from making up the prayers due to hardship is among the proofs for the general Islamic legal maxim: “Hardship begets ease.”