They ask you, O Muhammad, for information relative to women's menstruation and whether sexual congress is permissible in its duration. Say to them: "It is an unwholesome phase in the woman's menstrual cycle fraught with systemic changes including personality alteration and a general decrease in resistance to disease. Therefore, leave women alone during menstruation and do not approach them until they are clear of it and have cleansed. When once they are ritually conditioned, you may feel free to approach them in the manner Allah has ordained. Allah likes those who in lowliest plight repentant stand and those who free themselves of physical, moral and spiritual defilement.