Asalāmu’alaikum ♡

It has been a while since my last newsletter.

So, this hopefully makes up for the absence.

I’ve just come out of a heavy cycle week feeling exhausted and struggling to get back into my normal routine.

Usually, I would consider myself a highly organised person.

I set myself targets & daily to-do lists for every area of my life and get them done.

If I don’t meet these, I feel as if my day has gone to waste.

My first thing to do every day is wake up at 4 am.

And there have been days when I’ve slept through my alarm, and I wake up hours later regretting it. I can’t get any work done because my mind feels cloudy.

I try to avoid sleeping through as much as possible, but it happens.

I’m not perfect, no one is.

Allah made us imperfect beings.

That’s why I initiated The Deen Standard, where the primary focus is living with ihsan.

Ihsan = excellence to please Allah.

It’s only a short life which will be over in a moment.

So, why not push yourself and make it excellent for the sake of Allah? After all, we do want to receive our books in our right hands, right?

After these happenings, I decided to track my cycle seriously (even though I was casually doing it before) and make the most of the different phases of my cycle.

In order to track your cycle as a woman, you need to understand your design, your biology and how it differs from that of a man.

I’ve felt the mismatch first-hand.

You’re trying to run a 9–5, hustle culture, life designed around a man’s daily hormone rhythm, while your body runs a 28-day design.

That’s the reason why you feel “inconsistent,” guilty for missing prayers and fasts, and pressured to push like a machine when your energy naturally ebbs and flows.

Statistics show that lots of women feel more tired and sleep worse at some points in the month, especially right before and during their period. Everyone has a 24-hour body clock, but women also have a monthly rhythm on top of that. Men’s hormones rise in the morning and drop later, so many “do the same every day” routines fit them better. Your brain can still work great all month, but your energy and feelings can change. So if you can’t perform the same every single day, it isn’t a lack of discipline; it’s a lack of alignment, and ihsan (excellence), which means giving the right effort at the right time, for the sake of Allāh.

Understandably, nowadays things are tough.

Nearly everyone needs a 9-5, and it’s easy for people on social media to say the 9-5 was never meant for women (which I totally agree with), but then, how do you do something else if that’s all you’ve ever known?

It’s hard, I know.

But if you look back at the time of the Prophet ﷺ, you will see many excellent examples:

They were the best women to walk this earth.

They worked hard while pioneering the beautiful religion of Islam.

They set the standard.

Their faith was unshakeable, and their trust in Allah was solid.

Why are we not following in their footsteps?

Do you have that kind of faith, that kind of strength?

See the problem now?

You are stuck in your ways, thinking this is normal.

Spending full-time mediocre days at work isn’t normal; you’re just plodding through life.

You’re supposed to live a life of excellence.

Our mothers Khadijah, Zaynab bint Jahsh, and Zaynab bint Mas’ud رَضِيَ ٱللّٰهُ عَنْهُنَّ worked with tawakkul and ihsan.

They set a standard of excellence that fits real bodies and real lives.

If the 9–5 has you running on empty, consider a redesign: follow your cycle’s cues, protect your worship, and build work and home around what pleases Allah.

Don’t allow other people to dictate your days when Allah has already told you the purpose of this dunya.

Why not cut your 9-5 in half so you can perform with ihsan?

Why not set up that business you’ve always been thinking about?

Why not follow your cycle cues to perform at your optimum?

Stop putting your dreams on the back burner.

You’ve only got one chance at this life, make it count.

After all, if you’re doing everything with a sincere intention and ihsan, it is only Allah who can increase you in barakah.

More barakah = more time to do what you want.

More time to do what you want = strive for ihsan even more.

It’s a pleasant circle.

You are here to please Allah so he can give you Jannah in return.

But you don’t just want Jannah, you want Jannahtul Fridous.

You don’t want mediocre, you want the best.

But it has to start in this dunya.

In order to perform your best, you have to understand your monthly cycle.

You need an Islamic, evidence-aware way to honour your biology without losing your purpose, discipline, or barakah.

There are days you wake up clear and focused, and you want to get everything done.

A week later, you wonder where that woman went.

You still love Allah, your family, and your work, but your energy is heavier, your thoughts feel clouded, and the world keeps shouting “hustle harder.”

“Hustle” is the term that has crept into our Muslim women's dictionary. You weren’t created to hustle.

You were created to seek barakah and ihsan in everything you do.

For yourself, for your family, at work, for your neighbours, for your colleagues.

You always want to perform at your optimum, but how?

You’re told that consistency means identical output every single day, even though your body was never made for that.

Your body was never made for the grind.

The grind, the West introduced in the 1800s Industrial Revolution. Factory owners put men on 12–16-hour shifts, six days a week.

Men worked.

Women stayed at home and looked after their families.

In the West, women increasingly pushed for equal access to work, fair pay, and legal rights, especially across the 19th–20th centuries.

In Islam, women have always been able to work, own property, and keep their earnings, while honouring family responsibilities and ibadah.

The goal is balance: living and working in a way that pleases Allah, in line with the Qur’an and Sunnah, and seeking barakah.

While managing your hormonal cycle at the same time.

That sounds like a lot, right?

Not if you’ve got barakah in your time.

Not if you’ve got an organised plan.

Invest in a planning system that suits you (a paper diary or just the calendar/reminder apps on your phone)

Use everything you own to your advantage; otherwise, what was the point of wasting your money on it?

Plan, track, and set cues that work with your hormonal rhythm so your habits stay steady.

You don’t need your energy or hormones to be linear.

Design steady habits around their natural rhythm.

But. . .

Then your period starts, you stop praying and fasting, and the whispers begin: “You’re falling behind.”

You know that’s not the truth.

Because you run on a 28-day cycle.

You need a framework that is both spiritually sound and practically doable.

On menstruation days: keep it even lighter, do just the big outcome + one small task, swap prayer blocks for dhikr/du’a and rest.

Menstruation pauses certain forms of worship, not your relationship with Allah.

You are not “less” in those days; you are called to worship differently, with excellence fit for your state.

Allah named menstruation Himself and gave it rulings as mercy, not punishment:

The Prophet ﷺ taught that a menstruating woman makes up the fasts but not the prayers, a clear sign that Allah has lifted what would burden you:

And about non-menstrual bleeding (istihadah), he said:

Allah has given you ease, so you should utilise the days you’re not praying.

Use them to:

Ease is not idleness; it’s barakah that prepares you to return stronger.

Think of your month in four phases:

Place this inside the Islamic frame: during menses, no salah and no fasting by the Prophet’s ﷺ instruction, while your ibadah continues through dhikr, du’a, learning, sadaqah, and intentional rest.

Recognising your design removes shame and confusion.

Your biological design is from Allah.

You should learn to go with it.

This will help stop the feeling of burnout.

Planning that respects your 28-ish-day rhythm instead of forcing identical output every day. This is how you’re going to do it:

Consistency becomes patterned fidelity, doing the right hard thing at the right time.

Morning (on waking):
Sit 5–10 minutes for dhikr and du’a before your phone. Repeat:
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ · الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ · اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ · لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ.
Read or listen to a page of the Qur’an with tadabbur. Listen attentively and journal one reflection. Make your bed, drink water, and choose one priority.

Midday:
Do “quiet barakah” tasks: gentle learning, light reading, a walk, simple planning, or light chores at home, all with the intention of pleasing Allah.

Evening:
Close with istighfar and shukr. Write three lines in a gratitude/du’a journal. Prepare your space for calm sleep, honour the fatigue that often comes with menses. Make du’a.

These are beloved to Allah:

You do not pray or fast during menses. You do not blame yourself for what Allah has lifted, that is, obedience, not deficiency.

If bleeding is istihadah, its ruling differs; you pray with the practical steps taught by the Prophet ﷺ and seek a reliable teacher if patterns are complex (Bukhari 306).

Ihsan is not chasing identical output; it is excellence that matches your state.

Allah loves the muhsineen:

You’re aiming for a life that honours your biological rhythm and your responsibilities.

So that you can carry on sustainably, not burn out after a few days of performing your best.

You want to do it for the long run.

In Islam, men are tasked with provision and protection, qiwamah, a duty that should lighten your load, not add to it:

This is responsibility, not superiority.

This verse assigns care and financial responsibility with accountability before Allah, never a licence for harm. Mercy and justice are its non-negotiable limits in Shariah.

Practically, it means building support around your cycle so your excellence is sustainable.

At the start of each cycle, sit with your spouse (or family) for a 10 - 20 minute meeting. Share your predicted low-energy window (late luteal to early menses) and high-energy window (post-menses to ovulation). Decide together:

This is qiwamah, lived as care for the sake of Allah, not control.

Say no without apology when a request tramples your boundaries.

Two scripts you can borrow:

These are professional, honest, and ihsan-oriented. You don’t need to say “yes” to everything. Choose your priorities based on your cycle.

Help your husband and older children (or family) understand your phases so they see your changes as design, not moodiness.

This will also teach your son to be merciful towards his future wife.

Review your calendar together weekly.

This is family tawwun (mutual help) toward taqwa and excellence.

Ihsan lens: Support is not a favour you beg for; it is part of the architecture Allah set for a home that functions happily.

A covenant turns your ideals into decisions you don’t remake when you’re tired.

Write something down, promise yourself you’ll follow it.

Menstruation (Days 1–5+):

Follicular (Days 6–12):

Ovulation (Days 13–16):

Luteal (Days 17–28):

Tip: Tie each item to an existing habit (habit stacking). For example, say your adhkar with your tea, make du’a after school drop-off or instead of reaching for your phone when you wake up in the morning, reach for a book, read for 10 minutes, wake up, then read.

Your body, health, ibadah, and stage of life will shape what “baseline” looks like for you.

Choose two or three non-negotiables per phase (for example: morning/evening adhkar, a small daily portion of Qur’an or listening, one act of service each week) and let everything else be optional.

Tie these to reliable cues, prayer times when you’re praying, and morning/evening routines when you’re not, so consistency doesn’t depend on willpower.

Track how you feel across your cycle and adjust the mix of recitation, du’a and rest accordingly.

Answer four questions:

You started this journey with The Deen Standard because you refuse mediocrity.

Ihsan is not all talk and speed.

It is sincerity and excellence, measured over a month, not a single morning.

When your alarm fails, you repent, you recalibrate, you return.

When your menses begin, you don’t disappear; you worship differently with presence and peace.

When your energy blooms, you build and give.

This is how you live a short life beautifully for the sake of Allah, and it’s how you train for Jannatul Firdous.

Ramadan is only 3 months away.

اللَّهُمَّ بَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَان

Start to get into a routine of tracking and managing your cycle so you arrive in Ramadan fully prepared.

Get your Ramadan Planner
Designed to keep you intentional with your time before, during, and after Ramadan. It’s on a waitlist right now, so add your name to be first in line when it’s launched.

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Until next time.

مع حبي ودعائي (with love & du’as)

— Sidra ♡