Most Muslims believe that women are not required to pray Friday Dhuhr prayer in congregation. However, that understanding is based on the hadeeth which, as proven elsewhere in this book or in another one of my books, is an invalid source of Islamic law. The Quran in verse 62:9 makes it very clear that all believers must pray in congregation on Friday, not just men.
O you who have believed, when [the adhan] is called for the prayer on the day of Jumu’ah [Friday], then proceed to the remembrance of Allah and leave trade. That is better for you, if you only knew. (62:9)
Notice that the above verse does not single out men. Women, obviously, can be and are also believers.
In verse 3:43, God told Mary, mother of Jesus, to prostate and bow down with those who bow down. This confirms that congregational prayer was also directed to women.
O Mary, be devoutly obedient to your Lord and prostrate and bow with those who bow [in prayer].” (3:43)
In verse 3:193, we read that people were asking God for forgiveness and salvation. In verse 3:193, God responds by saying that men and like women and that He would not allow the deeds of anyone to be lost.
Their Lord has answered them: ‘I will not allow the deeds of any one of you to be lost, whether you are male or female, each is like the other.’ (3:195)
Additionally, God differentiated between men and women with regards to certain issues, e.g. men receive twice the inheritance as women and two women are required to be witnesses for each male witness. Therefore, if God wanted only men to pray the Friday prayer in congregation, He could have simply stated that it was only for men.
The above verse stresses the equality of male and female when it comes to worship, and signifies that the opportunities to worship should be equal for both men and women.
Our Lord, indeed we have heard a caller calling to faith, [saying], ‘Believe in your Lord,’ and we have believed. Our Lord, so forgive us our sins and remove from us our misdeeds and cause us to die with the righteous. Our Lord, and grant us what You promised us through Your messengers and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed, You do not fail in [Your] promise.” And their Lord responded to them, “Never will I allow to be lost the deeds of [any] doer among you, whether male or female; you are of one another. … (3:193-195 part)
In verse 51:56, we see that God created humans (men and women) and jinn for no other reason but to worship Him.
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. (51:56)
The average menstruation period lasts between 2 to 7 days per month. Therefore, a woman’s menstruation period could account for 25% of their adult life, which is most of their life. As worship is not mandatory before puberty (baligh), which, for women, is when menstruation begins, then menstruation accounts for up to 25% of a woman’s life during which worship is actually mandatory. If worship during menstruation were truly forbidden, that would be at odds with verse 51:56. Logically, it would make no sense for God to create women with the sole purpose of having them worship Him while also prohibiting them from worshipping Him for up to 25% of their life.
The Quran is clear as to what restrictions exist for each act of worship.
Prayer restrictions
According to verse 5:6, the restriction is that you may not pray until you have performed ablution. Additionally, if you are ill or on a journey or have relieved yourself or have been in physical contact with the opposite gender, and if you can’t find water, then you can perform dry ablution (tayammum).
O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. … (5:6 part)
In verse 4:43, we see additional prayer restrictions. Here, you are not allowed to pray while your mind is befogged (unable to focus, distracted, angry, etc) and that you must know what you are saying.
O you who have believed, do not approach prayer with a mind befogged (Arabic: sukara) until you know what you are saying … (4:43)
Notice the many conditions God has specified surrounding praying in both of these verses. These would be suitable places for God to mention the restriction for menstruating women if God really didn’t want women to pray while menstruating. There is no mention anywhere in the Quran that prohibits women from praying while menstruating.
Fasting restrictions
According to verse 2:185, during the fasting month of Ramadan, if you are ill or on a journey, then you can not fast and make up for it after Ramadan by fasting for an equal number of days lost.
The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. … (2:185 part)
Again, if God really wanted to restrict women from fasting during menstruation, He probably would have mentioned it in this verse. On the contrary, there is no mention anywhere in the Quran that specifically prohibits women from fasting while menstruating.
Hajj restrictions
Similarly, God has made it clear what the restrictions are regarding Hajj.
Verses 5:1-2, 5:95: No hunting, killing animals
Verse 2:217: No fighting / war
Verse 2:197: No sex
Verse 2:196: No cutting your hair
There is no restriction for menstruating women.
Similarly, there is no restriction for menstruating women from touching and reading the Quran and entering a mosque.
Menstruation vs illness
The Arabic word for menstruation (mahid) is known to the Quran and is used in two different verses (2:222, 65:4). However, this term is not mentioned in verse 2:185. The Arabic word for ‘illness’ is ‘marid’.
Some may argue that menstruation is an illness. Let’s examine this further. In verse 2:222, the Quran describes ‘menstruation’ as an ‘adha’.
… But there is no blame upon you, if you are troubled (adha) by rain or are ill (marda) … (4:102)
Therefore, ‘adha’ can be considered a condition that can cause annoyance, trouble, is disagreeable or hurt. Based on the verses above, ‘adha’ does not necessarily mean an illness, unless it causes hurt or harm.
Menstruation as an impurity
Some may argue that menstruation is an impurity and therefore you can’t fast. Whether it is impure or not is irrelevant when it comes to fasting. Fasting is not broken by defecation or urination (a natural occurrence as is menstruation) so why would menstruation as an impurity prohibit fasting?
Menstruation and sexual intercourse
Sexual intimacy does break the fast but such acts are based on clear volition and the Quran specifically prohibits sexual intimacy during fasting. The only thing prohibited for menstruating women is sexual intercourse (2:222) and nothing else.
Spiritual vs biological impurity
As explained above, menstruating women are only prohibited from sexual intercourse and nothing else. They are not prohibited from performing any type of worship ritual during menstruation. This makes sense since God never considers women to be spiritually impure during menstruation. On the contrary, sexual intercourse during menstruation is prohibited because it is a temporary, periodic biological impurity that could cause harm (adha).
The Bible (Torah) on menstruation
In Leviticus 15:19-30, we see that the Bible describes menstruating women as spiritually impure so much so that if a menstruating woman touches something, that thing becomes impure and if someone else subsequently touches that thing, they too shall become impure. According to the Bible, menstruating women would be forbidden from entering a mosque or touching the Quran. Could it be that Muslim scholars have mixed Quranic law with Biblical law in order to come up with Islamic law with regards to menstruating women?
Conclusion
Women must fast and pray even when menstruating unless menstruation causes pain or harm similar to that of being sick. The only prohibition in the Quran during menstruation is sexual intercourse.
Trying to find a thick, plush rug with high pile can be difficult with so many options but inaccurate advertising. Here’s my experience and recommendations for comfy carpet.
Thomasville Shag Rugs
Basically, all of the Thomasville Shag rugs are good, if not the best. They are definitely the best value.
Thomasville Bali Shag Rug I felt this rug at Costco and it’s definitely thick, soft and super dense.
Thomasville Marketplace Luxury Shag I personally have this rug. It’s definitely high pile and soft but not as soft at the Bali Shag rug. I like the edges of this rug more than the Bali shag rug, though.
Thomasville Marketplace Savoy Shag Rug I haven’t felt this rug but it’s got a lot of good reviews and is by Thomasville.
This article explains how to remove a green background in a video using Corel VideoStudio Ultimate 2018 and the NewBlueFX Chroma Key.
When applying a chroma key to a video in VideoStudio, you have two options:
using Corel VideoStudio’s native chroma key feature
using the NewBlueFX Chroma Key filter
Native Corel VideoStudio Chroma Key Feature
To use VideoStudio’s native chroma key feature,
select a video on the timeline,
open the Options panel,
click the Effect tab,
check the “Apply Overlay Options” checkbox, and
adjust the settings.
From my experience, this feature doesn’t work well for imperfectly lit backgrounds. Unless you are filming in a professional studio, the chroma key results will likely be poor.
NewBlueFX Chroma Key Filter
For better chroma key results, you can use the NewBlueFX Chroma Key filter. Disable the native VideoStudio chroma key by unchecking the “Apply Overlay Options” checkbox described in the previous steps. This will minimize confusion due to the application of multiple chroma keys. To use the NewBlueFX Chroma Key, do this:
crop your video to remove any areas outside of the green screen. If you don’t, the background will be gray instead of transparent.
click on the FX Filter button
select NewBlue Video Essentials II in the filter dropdown
drag the Chroma Key filter to the video in the timeline
if the native VideoStudio chroma key panel is visible, close it by clicking the x button in the top right corner of the panel
select the “Chroma Key” filter and then click the “Customize Filter” button
The NewBlue Chroma Key control panel will appear.
Uncheck “Show in preview window” to improve performance
Uncheck “Use keyframes” to apply the same chroma key settings for the entire video. Unless you need to apply different settings for different sections of the video, you don’t need to use keyframes.
If your background is green, leave the “Default – Green” button selected.
Check the “Show Mask” checkbox to show a black mask for any color in the video other than green
Adjust the Sensitivity value until the subject is completely black and the background is completely white. If it’s difficult to use the radial slider, just enter numeric values.
Drag the slider to scrub through the video to see if any section of the video shows a partially gray background or white subject. If it does, further increase the sensitivity setting.
Uncheck the “Show Mask” checkbox to remove the mask and to see the video in color. If you see some of the green background spilling over on the subject (usually around a person’s hair), adjust the “Erase Spill” value.
Click OK to save and exit the Chroma Key panel.
Some of the green background is spilling over around the subject’s hair. Increase the “Erase Spill” value to fix this.
Nowadays, videos can be recorded at 4K resolution which is great for visual quality but bad for editing performance. To fix this, you can enable some settings in Corel VideoStudio under Settings > Performance as follows.
These settings will cause VideoStudio to generate a smaller version of a large video file so speedier editing. In the example settings above, if the source video is greater than 720 x 480, then a proxy file will be created in a SmartProxy folder. On my system, that folder is at
As an example, let’s compare the original video size to the proxy video size. In VideoStudio, if we select a video and view it’s properties, we see that its size is 636 MB.
If we look at the SmartProxy folder, it is currently empty. Now, if we drag the video to the timeline, VideoStudio will create a proxy file containing a lower quality version of that video. You can see the progress of the proxy file creation under Settings > Smart Proxy Manager > Smart Proxy Queue Manager.
When the proxy file has been created, you can inspect its size. As you can see, the size is only 56 MB. That’s a reduction of 91%!
If the proxy file is still too large, you can tweak the proxy file settings to produce a lower quality file, e.g. instead of 1920 x 1080 frame size, you can choose 640 x 360.
You can also tweak the audio and video compression settings.
If you are unsure whether VideoStudio is actually using the proxy files instead of the original files, you can look for a specific icon on each video in the timeline. If there is a black and white icon as shown below, then the proxy video is being used.
Making a music video often requires transitioning between multiple video clips. Many video editing programs have many effects for transitioning between video clips. The most common transition effect is the cross fade. In Corel VideoStudio, you can apply this transition by dragging it over the two video clips where they meet. Since this is a cross fade, the duration of the two clips necessarily becomes smaller. If you have a separate audio track and you want the video track to be in sync with the audio track, the crossfade transition will cause the video to become out of sync with the audio track. To maintain synchronousness and for transitioning many video clips, use the track transparency feature. The instructions below are for making a music video with multiple video tracks and a separate audio track.
1. Record Video Footage
You can do this using your phone. Just remember to record in landscape. If you want to show a different background behind the subject, make sure to film against a green screen.
2. Add Assets to Corel VideoStudio
The assets are things like each source video, music files, background images and videos, etc. Make sure you name each file something descriptive to make it easy to identify them when working with many tracks.
3. Drag the Background Image / Video to the Video Track
The first track in the list of tracks is the video track. Unlike the Video Overlay tracks, the Video track must start at time 0. If the background video is abstract and can be looped but is too short, you can duplicate it back to back as shown below.
4. Drag Each Video to a Separate Video Overlay Track
To start, each video can be positioned at time 0. Later, we’ll adjust the start time of each video so they are in sync with the music track. You can also mute each video track’s audio so the only audio heard comes from the music track.
5. Create Proxy Files
This will make VideoStudio use a smaller version of each file to improve performance. See how to set up proxy files.
6. Drag the Audio Asset to the Music Track
In this example, I positioned the start time of the music to 20 seconds to accommodate video clips that have a long but useless intro.
7. Determine Visibility Times for Each Video Track
Let’s say you want to make a music video containing 5 different singers each singing a different part of the song. You’ll have at least 5 video tracks to work with. You’ll need to listen to the song and determine what times throughout the song to show different videos. You can do this by creating a spreadsheet like below.
8. Set Cues / Markers on the Timeline
To make it easy to see start and end times for each video track, add a cue / marker (little green triangles below the timeline bar) on the timeline for each start time.
8. Create a Transition Between Each Video
To do this, we’ll be adjusting each video track’s transparency. In order for this to work, you can’t cut any of the video clips in the timeline.
For each track, click on the Track Transparency button to reveal the transparency controls.
In the screenshot below. you see multiple video tracks but only the transparency track for one of them. The vertical position of the yellow line indicates the video’s transparency at any given time. When the line is at the bottom (0), the video is completely transparent (0% opaque). When the line is at the top, the video is completely visible (100% opaque). You create a fade by adding keyframes to the yellow line and dragging them.
Below is a screenshot for a different video track. Notice how the transparency graph both of these video tracks are such that one video will fade out when the other fades in.
Let’s say you want to make a music video of you lip syncing to a song. You have two files:
Video file of you lip syncing
Audio file of song
When you add these two files to VideoStudio Pro, you’ll need to adjust the start time of one so that the lip movement in the video file is in sync with the audio. One way to do this is as follows:
1. Add the audio file to the music track
2. Set a cue marker at first vocal point
Play the music track until you hear the first point in time when you hear the vocals. At that point set a marker by clicking on the bar underneath the timeline. A green triangle marker will appear. If you make a mistake in placing the marker, you can drag it to another position.
If you are having a hard time finding the first vocal point, set a preview range around the time of the first vocal point. Then, keep playing the preview range and update the marker position. To set a preview range,
Click on the timeline where the preview range would start. Then click the left bracket button [
Click on the timeline where the preview range would end. Then click the right bracket button ]
In the player control panel, you’ll see two yellow markers indicating the preview range relative to the entire project length.
In the timeline, you’ll see an orange bar indicating the preview ranger.
To play the preview range, make sure that “Project —” is selected / highlighted and not “Clip —”. Then click the play button. You can also click the loop button so the preview range plays repeatedly.
If the preview range appears very short, you can zoom in by clicking the + magnifying glass button.
Doing so allows you to see finer time increments in the timeline.
3. Add video to the Overlay 1 track
Don’t add the video to the Video track because doing so forces the video to begin from time 0 instead of a later time. Mute the audio in the Overlay 1 track by click the Mute icon.
4. Position the video to sync it with the audio
Drag the video track to the left and right and repeatedly play the preview range until the lip movement in the video is in sync with the vocal sound from the audio track.
