A Further Comment on ' Fasts Missed Due to Menstruation ' You stated in your reply that the most authentic bases for a religious practice to be correct is that there is practical perpetuation of the Muslims on such practice. What I want to know is that if the traditions and living styles of people has changed couldn't the practice be reconsidered/discussed. As you know in today's' world the interaction between male and female has become more frequent, in their own houses and outside. Women from the families with adult male members, such as brothers, chacha [uncle] etc wakes up at 'sahri' (even if it is not their duty to prepare it) just to avoid the awkward situation. Some even go to the lengths of eating during the day in hiding places in their own house. The situation of working women and the girls studying in co-education is worse. Sometimes they don't eat the whole day due to non-availability of proper place and to avoid the awkward situation. Now if the girl/women tries to complete her fasts after Ramadan the situation is even more difficult to handle. It is very hard to avoid telling people that you are fasting and if you tell them then the questions! (To tell you the truth one has to be a woman to really understand this) What I mean is that Islam is the religion that is for all cultures and times and for what I think is a religion that doesn't believe in hardships for its followers. On one side if we say that one has to bear all the difficult situations in performing our religious duties then on other hand is the 'hya' concept. In addition, hasn't Islam taught us not to accept things as they are or being done by our ancestors but try to understand the real reason, the basic concept? I hope you understand that I'm very confused on this topic. As I think, all traditions/practices of Islam are very convenient. And I don't find this practice convenient. Reply I do appreciate the embarrassment that a woman may feel due to the situation. However, this is primarily because our society has a very strange concept of " Hayaa ", whereby we are not even in a position to discuss or make our natural problems known to others. It is obvious that when a woman is living in a household with adult male members [including brothers, uncles etc.], all adult male and female members are quite aware of the natural phenomenon of menstruation, and yet no one is willing to accept that due to the natural phenomenon, the woman [who woke up each of the thirty days of the month of Ramadan ] should have actually missed a few fasts. However wrong it might be, we have to live with it. Social norms and concepts cannot be mended overnight. In any case, to avoid the psych-social embarrassment that a woman may feel while completing the number of fasts, after the month of Ramadan , she may give the impression that she is fasting nafal [non-obligatory] fasts. I think this may remove the element of embarrassment felt. I hope this helps. Regards, The Learner