Comparative Study of Menopause in Islamic Jurisprudence

Postmenopausal is the woman whose menstrual periods stop permanently, and she is no longer able to bear children. There are no certain and specific Quranic verses or hadith or rule about the age of menopause in Quran so jurists have their own ijtihad according to the related verses and hadith with regard to the time and space requirements and by considering menopause of peers and close relatives. It leads to different opinions which are considered as legal implications and suspicious reasons not as final verdict. And it is arisen as average age of menopause. There is no reliable method in medical science either to determine the exact time of menopause. Its occurrence depends on women’s genetic and life style. Different questions have been arisen due to different opinions among jurists and lack of consensus among them on religious duties. Legal issues of doubt between menstruation and asthmas (blemishes), physiological changes during menopause or after that and its impact on women’s body and soul make it necessary to be studied. Therefore in order to clarify the subject, first menopause is defined in this research then different jurists’ viewpoints about the age of onset of menopause are discussed. Finally the viewpoint of "failure to specify certain age for menopause" is considered as the best opinion and comment.