Menstruation and Henna: Pollution and Purification - The Henna Page

Menstruation and Henna: Pollution and Purification
Henna’s role in Muslim Traditions Regarding Reproductive Blood
Catherine Cartwright Jones, Kent State University
Figure 1: Hennaed hand, by author
In traditional Islam, a menstruating woman was considered vulnerable, weakened, and polluted;
therefore she could not pray, fast, or have intercourse. Menstrual blood was najis, polluted,
haram, very dirty, as were all blood, excrement and reproductive fluids. Islamic tradition
emphasizes that Allah values people who are clean and pure, whereas malevolent jinn, predatory
evil spirits, are not repulsed by filth, blood and decay, and may even find it attractive. In some
Islamic traditions the jinn are believed strongly attracted to menstrual blood. For these believers,
anyone who sees or touches menstrual blood is ritually impure and vulnerable to malevolent
spirits, and dire consequences can follow. Running water and a thorough scrub purified a
woman at the end of her menstrual cycle or other reproductive blood flow, so she could resume
“Menstruation and Henna, Pollution and Purification”, was written by Catherine Cartwright-Jones as partial completion
of the requirements for a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies focusing on henna, under the supervision of Dr. A Smith
and Dr. N Ammar, Kent State University, Kent Ohio, USA
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