i dont know if we shall call this a fatwa or a trial to think.i dont mean to be rude.but i always have this question bugging me. look i have a complex called prayers.i am not exagerating.sorry again if you dont like what i am saying. but i am a person who can not control gases.i know well the fatwa for this.but it means i have to make wodou' every prayer.exhausting! and what if i am in work or outdoors shall i stop for every prayer and halt my work or leave people or delay appointments in this hectic world.the question here is why are we to make wodou' if we had gases,how can we control this?!!! look and am a 28 unmarried girl.i may have secretions from time to time.shall i tell people in work wait am gonna check my pantyliner or wash my clothes or change them in work. what if i had a sexy dream i must have shower at cold dawn hours.what if it always happens shall i have this obligatory shower everyday?how can one keep his prayers under these pressures.i swear to God my best days that i can go out and have a well ordered day are those of my menstruation cycle days!!! i am not exagerating am depressed coz of this!am afraid to take an appointment between 3:00-8:00 p.m. for instance.can i tell people can i make wodou' twice for instance durn' this short period?or change my clothes? i see these things as difficulties.since we cant control these things, how can an obligatory worship like our "5 daily prayers" be highly influenced by these things?look at christians prayers ! i know we are lucky we have these prayers but it's just the preparations!! the question here is since Islam s a very easy religion,why not get rid of these difficulties like purification and wodou' to facilitate prayers,is there any practical solution for this?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

First of all, you should know – dear sister – that among the blessings of Allaah on His Slaves is that he did not overburden them more than what they could bear, and that the prayer is the most important ritual of Islam and it is a very easy task in itself, and in its conditions among which is purity. The difficulties that you mentioned about the prayer and imagining it in the way which you described, is nothing but the result of lack of religious knowledge. For instance, the Islamic Sharee’ah came with rulings about people who suffer from incontinence, be it of urine, wind, discharges or else, in order to facilitate their acts of worship and remove the difficulty which they face. Indeed, we have already mentioned these rulings in Fataawa 103316, 100572, 85661, 84463, 86400 and 82539.

We swear by Allaah that if the prayer is of a great status in the heart of a person, he would not be bored with it. The problem is not in the prayer and its conditions because millions of people perform the prayer at their work place eagerly without boredom and without giving excuses like what you mentioned in the question. Rather, the problem is in ignoring the religion and then saying that it is too much while believing that it is strict and that the prayer of the Christians is simpler.

Moreover, you should know that you are created in order to perform the prayer, nothing more and nothing less. In fact, we do not prevent the work of the woman with the religious conditions that are mentioned in Fatwa 88048, but we draw your attention to the fact that your existence in this life is in principle to perform the prayer and to worship Allaah. Allaah Says (what means): {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me. Indeed, it is Allaah who is the [continual] Provider, the firm possessor of strength.}[Quran 51:56-58] Therefore, the provision is guaranteed and a person’s exaggeration in things that are already guaranteed while neglecting what he/she is obliged to do is foolishness.

As regards abandoning the prayer or neglecting it on the grounds that work is also worship, then this is the handiwork of the devil who deceived many people. Therefore, you should fear Allaah, seek religious knowledge and you should not neglect the prayer because it is the most important pillar of religion. Besides, you should not exaggerate about the importance of work as you are not running the matters of this world and those of the Hereafter. Few minutes that you take off your work in order to do what you are created for will not affect your work.

Finally, for more benefit on how to solve the difficult problem that you have, please refer to the above-referred Fatwa.

Allaah Knows best.