So it's after nine o'clock on the first night I was allowed to do prayers. And boy, was it way more complicated than I expected.
Like I said in the last post, a woman who is menstruating is not allowed to pray until she has ritually cleansed herself twelve hours after her last period. The process of this cleansing is called "ghusl", and it's basically a bath. Before you can perform ghusl however, you must hold "wudu", which means to cleanse oneself from any physical impurities. It's a pretty long process, and slightly different for men than women (women have to perform wudu in privacy, especially if it's right after menstruation). Here's a link to the steps for you to read.
http://islam1.org/how_to_pray/wudu.htm
After performing wudu, you can move on to the ghusl. This also varies according to different branches of Islam, but this is the one I followed:
http://www.islamicinformation.net/2008/07/how-to-perform-ghusl-bath-in-islam.html
In case you were wondering, najaasat is any unclean substance, such as blood, semen, urine, or feces, which might be present on the body. This has to be washed away before you perform ghusl.
I finished ghusl twelve hours after my period, but will have to do it again on Friday, after my evening prayers.
After ghusl is complete, I am free to perform Salah, or the 3 Rakahs (or steps) of the prayers I do five times a day. Luckily, I do not have to take all these steps every time I pray, though truly devout Muslims are encouraged to do so if able.
I really had no idea how involved this all was. It's been a challenge to get it all right, and to find time to do it properly, but I'm doing the best I can. Tomorrow I start praying five times a day.
May Allah bless and keep you,
Sarah
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