Note 20

20. God hath exempted women who are in their courses from obligatory prayer and fasting. # 13

Exemption from obligatory prayer and fasting is granted to women who are menstruating; they should, instead, perform their ablutions (see note 34) 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 &Bayan, 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 &Baha'u'llah (see note 106).

The Universal House of Justice has clarified that the provisions in the &Kitab-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 +P174 that, in deciding whether to do so or not, the believer should use wisdom and realize that &Baha'u'llah has granted these exemptions for good reason.

The prescribed exemption from obligatory prayer, originally related to the Obligatory Prayer consisting of nine &rak'ahs, is now applicable to the three Obligatory Prayers which superseded it.

21. When travelling, if ye should stop and rest in some safe spot, perform ye--men and women alike--a single prostration in place of each unsaid Obligatory

Prayer # 14

Exemption from obligatory prayer is granted to those who find themselves in such a condition of insecurity that the saying of the Obligatory Prayers is not possible. The exemption applies whether one is travelling or at home, and it provides a means whereby Obligatory Prayers which have remained unsaid on account of these insecure circumstances may be compensated for. &Baha'u'llah has made it clear that obligatory prayer "is not suspended during travel" so long as one can find a "safe spot" in which to perform it (Q and A 58).

Numbers 21, 58, 59, 60, and 61 in Questions and Answers amplify this provision.