Am I Clean?

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The suffocating Somali heat poured into the open windows of the classroom as I sat quietly with the nursing student sitting next to me.  The other women prayed on the floor behind us. “Nura,” I whispered, “why aren’t you praying?” Expecting to launch into a philosophical discussion about prayer she surprised me by saying “I have my period. I cannot pray when I am unclean.” (See The Quran, Surah 5:6 and 2:222.)

Years later I sat against the back wall of a mosque in North Carolina.  A sweet Ethiopian woman with a darling infant came to welcome me and let me hold her baby while she prayed with the other women behind the wall.  As neither of us were able to speak Arabic, we whispered to each other instead of listening to the Imam’s teaching. “Why do men and women separate when they come to mosque?” I asked quietly.  “If women walk in front of men during prayer,” she explained, “their prayers will be unclean.” She laughed, as many east-African women do to hide shame, and looked down at her baby. “I don’t know if that’s even true,” she concluded, “that’s just how we do.” (See Hadith Bukhari 1:490 and The Quran, Surah 7:33)

I have spoken to Muslim women from all over the world and their convictions vary as much as the glorious colors of their headscarves (or maybe I could say, they vary as much as the convictions of Christians world wide).  But one conclusion is easy to apply across the board: Allah offers no assurance for the value or destiny of a Muslim woman.

This is why we are seeing so many Muslim women around the world responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  In fact, more Muslims have come to know Jesus as their personal Savior in the last 25 years than in the previous 1400 years combined! (See David Garrison’s book, A Wind in the House of Islam.

Muslim women are drawn to the words of Jesus because they are trustworthy - because they are true.

I am the way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father but through me.
John 14:6

We, as followers of Jesus, do not have the invitation, the authority or power to turn non-Christians into Christians! But are we not compelled to offer the promised hope of “abundant life” (John 10:10) to every woman?  What Scriptural basis do we stand on to refuse her the opportunity to explore His Word for herself and Believe What is True?


Jami Staples is the Founder and CEO of The Truth Collective. After several years serving Muslims in East Africa, Jami returned to the United States to invite Christian and Muslim women to Know, Believe, and Share what is True about who God is and how He sees women. Full Bio ›