Exemption from obligatory
prayer and fasting is granted to women who are menstruating; they should,
instead, perform their ablutions and repeat 95 times a day between one noon and
the next, the verse “Glorified be God, the Lord of Splendour and Beauty”. This
provision has its antecedent in the Arabic Bayán, where a similar dispensation
was granted.
In some earlier religious
Dispensations, women in their courses were considered ritually unclean and were
forbidden to observe the duties of prayer and fasting. The concept of ritual
uncleanness has been abolished by Bahá’u’lláh.
The Universal House of Justice has
clarified that the provisions in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas granting exemptions from
certain duties and responsibilities are, as the word indicates, exemptions and
not prohibitions. Any believer is, therefore, free to avail himself or herself
of an applicable exemption if he or she so wishes. However, the House of
Justice counsels that, in deciding whether to do so or
not, the believer should use wisdom and realize that Bahá’u’lláh has granted
these exemptions for good reason.
The Universal House of Justice (The
‘Notes’ section of ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
