Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Is it permissible for a menstruating woman to enter a mosque? What if she wants to attend a nikah (wedding) or a lesson of sacred knowledge in it? And what if she teaches in the mosque?
First, we must differentiate between a prayer-area and a mosque, for a mosque is that which an owner has given as a waqf [s. endowment] so the ownership leaves him and is passed on to the ownership of Allah, Most High.
As for the prayer-area, it is a place whose owner has given permission to people to pray there without having given it as a waqf to make it a mosque, which is done often in the case of large establishments and building complexes. So as for the mosque, it is haram for a menstruating woman to stay in a mosque whether she fears soiling it with blood or not, or even if she is in it because of a lesson of knowledge, or teaching or attending a nikah or anything else. It’s all haram.
It is permissible for a menstruating woman to pass through a mosque if she believes that she won’t soil it with blood, and passing through means that she enters from one door and exits from another. As for entering and exiting from the same door, that is prohibited because it takes on the ruling of ‘staying’ in the mosque.
As for the prayer-area that I have described, the aforementioned rulings of the mosque do not apply to it, so it is permissible for a menstruating woman to enter it for a need such as attending a gathering of knowledge or a nikah or even when there is no need.