بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

Before I came to Qum, I had many questions regarding specific issues related to women, the Islamic rules women must follow. One of the main issues all women face is that of different blood cycles. There are a lot of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) books that cover these sensitive topics for women, but I often found them very confusing for myself.

Alhamdulillah, joining the Hawza (Seminary) in Qum helped me in understanding these confusing issues. Apart from wanting to share what I learnt, I wanted to make my life easy so I decided to write a very simple book that talks mainly about different issues women face. Keeping the simplicity in mind I have refrained from bringing the references for the masalas too. Those interested can access the book of laws.

In this book we will be mainly discussing different blood cycles and the different women who are special in their own way. When you read this book, you will be able to figure out what kind of a blood cycle you have and InshaAllah you will be able to perform your duties as per the laws of Islam, which is obligatory on all of us.

This book is written according to the rulings of Ayatullah Khomeini and Ayatullah Sistani. Rahbar/Ayatullah Khamenei’s views are similar to Ayatullah Khomeini but where there is a difference of view it has been added in the footnotes while revising the book. Although most of the Maraji’ have similar views on these issues, it is important that sisters who follow other Maraji’ should check with their own Marja’, because there may be minor differences in the rulings.

I would like to thank my teachers Khanum Ferozi and Khanum Salehi (from Jamiat al-Zahra), who are such great teachers. I used to dislike the subject of Fiqh, but they taught us so well, that I started loving this subject so much I decided to write about it!

I would also like to thank my children who encouraged and helped me a great deal.

My sincere thanks to Brother Shuja Ali Mirza, Sister Sumaira Ahmed and Sister Shaista Yusufali for all the help and input.

I would like to dedicate this book to my late mother, Sayyida Rabab Sultana Razavi and my late mother-in-law Tahera Begum Arastu and my late husband Ali Azhar Arastu.

Batool Arastu

Qum, Shawwal 15, 1426/ November 18, 2005.

Revised, Ramadan 15, 1446 / March 16, 2025.