How do women stay spiritually pure if they do not pray during menstruation?

Menstruation is not a spiritual impurity but a physical condition. A woman who leaves the formal prayer during this time out of obedience to God remains in a state of worship and can remember God at any moment.

The question starts from an image. Prayer is like a stream of pure water that one steps into five times a day. Whoever does not step into it for a few days seems to be left unprotected. But this image misses what worship means in Islam.

Worship is not only the formal prayer. It covers the whole of life whenever a person does or avoids something for the sake of God. Following a command because God has given it is itself a form of prayer. That remains true when the command is to refrain from something for a while. A woman who leaves the formal prayer during these days is obeying God, and precisely in this way she stays in His service.

The idea that a woman is spiritually unclean at this time is foreign to Islam. The verse above speaks of a physical burden. The relief is first of all for the woman's own sake. Besides, the formal prayer requires ritual washing, and this cannot be maintained while bleeding continues. So the matter concerns a form, not the worth of a person.

Everything else remains open. A woman can remember God in her heart as often as she wishes. She can make supplications, recite the Holy Qur’an and do good. The two reports above show how naturally the Holy Prophet (saw) treated this.

The stream the question speaks of keeps flowing. Only one way of stepping into it pauses for a few days, and even that pause is an act of devotion.