Praise be to Allah

When a woman in her menstrual period passes through a pilgrimage entry point with the intention of performing the pilgrimage, she can enter into a state of sacredness. When she arrives in Makkah, she does everything that pilgrims do except the rounds of the Kaaba and the walk between Safa and Marwa. For she has to delay these acts until she recovers her ritual cleanliness. The same is true for a woman who sees her period after she has entered the state of sacredness and before she performs the rounds of the Kaaba.

A woman who sees her menses after performing the rounds of the Kaaba may proceed to walk between Safa and Marwa despite her menses.

The Ulema of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Consultancy were asked: What is the status of the pilgrimage of the woman who sees her menses?

This is their answer: « Menstruation does not prevent the performance of pilgrimage. Therefore, a woman who enters the state of sacredness while she is menstruating can do all that pilgrims do, except for the rounds of the Ka’bah, which she can only do after she has recovered her ritual cleanliness and taken the subsequent bath. And the same is true of the woman who has given birth; if she performs the pillars of the pilgrimage, she will have done it correctly.

Fatwas of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Consultancy, 172-173/11.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymine says: The woman who wishes to perform Umrah should not cross the places where one enters in a state of sacredness without putting herself in that state, even if she is menstruating. She must make herself holy despite her menstruation because doing so is right. This is proven in the case of Asma bint Umays, wife of Abu Bakr (pbuh), who gave birth while the Prophet (pbuh) was in the Dhul Hulayfa valley on his farewell pilgrimage. Asma sent to ask the Prophet (peace be upon him) what she should do: Take a ritual bath and put on a cloth as a protection (of the sex) and then enter the state of sacredness. The Prophet (peace be upon him) told her.

The blood of menstruation is like the blood of diapers. That is why we say to the woman who is menstruating, if she passes through a place of entry in a state of sacredness while she wishes to perform Hajj or Umrah, we say to her:  Take a ritual bath and put a cloth as a protection (of the sex) and then enter the state of sacredness. « Putting a cloth over her sex means that she ties a bandage over her sex and goes into a state of sacredness, either for Hajj or Umrah. But when she arrives in Makkah, she will not make the rounds of the Kaaba until she has recovered her ritual cleanliness. That is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Aisha (pbuh) when she was menstruating during her Umrah:  Do everything that pilgrims do, but do not go around the Kaaba until you recover your ritual cleanliness.  According to the version of al-Bukhari and Muslim, another version of al-Bukhari mentions that when Aisha recovered her ritual cleanliness, she did the rounds of the Kaaba and the walk between Safa and Marwa. This means that when a woman who sees her menses goes into a state of sacredness for Hajj or Umrah or sees her menses just before starting the rounds of the Kaaba, she does not do the rounds of the Kaaba or the walk between Safa and Marwa until she recovers her ritual cleanliness and takes the recommended bath. If she sees her menstrual period after she has made the rounds of the Kaaba, she continues (her acts), despite the period. Then she reduces her hair and ends her Umrah, because walking does not require ritual cleanliness.

See 60 questions about menstruation, question no. 54.

Allah knows best.