Short answer
Seven things: prayer, fasting, reciting the Quran, touching the mushaf, staying in a mosque, tawaf, and intercourse. Missed fasts are made up later; missed prayers are not. Everything else is allowed, including dhikr, dua, cooking, hugging your family and sleeping in the same bed. This is the Hanafi list; the schools differ on a few details.
During haid and nifas it is haram to pray, fast, recite the Quran, touch the mushaf without a separate cover, enter or stay in a mosque, perform tawaf, and have intercourse (the husband also avoids direct contact between her navel and knees). She makes up fasts, not prayers.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- A menstruating woman may recite the Quran from memory.
- Shafi'i
- She may pass through a mosque without staying, if she is sure no blood will fall in it.
- Hanbali
- She may pass through a mosque, and the husband may enjoy everything except intercourse itself.
Explanation
The Quran calls menstruation a harm and tells husbands to keep away from intercourse until their wives are pure. The Prophet ﷺ described a woman in her period as one who does not pray or fast, and told Aishah, when her period came on Hajj, to do everything a pilgrim does except tawaf. He told the women to come out for Eid but to keep away from the prayer place itself.
The Hanafi list:
- Salah, including sujud al-tilawah. Not made up later. See making up prayers.
- Fasting. Made up later.
- Reciting the Quran, even less than a verse with the intention of recitation. See Quran on your period.
- Touching the mushaf without a separate cloth.
- Entering or staying in a mosque. See the mosque on your period.
- Tawaf.
- Intercourse. See intercourse during the period.
Things that are allowed, despite common myths: cooking and serving food, kneading dough, hugging and kissing your husband and children, sleeping in the same bed, washing your hair, going to Islamic classes held outside the prayer hall, listening to the Quran, and all dhikr, istighfar, salawat and dua. When Aishah worried about passing the Prophet ﷺ something during her period, he told her that her period was not in her hand.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:222
وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْمَحِيضِ ۖ قُلْ هُوَ أَذًۭى فَٱعْتَزِلُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فِى ٱلْمَحِيضِ ۖ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوهُنَّ حَتَّىٰ يَطْهُرْنَ ۖ فَإِذَا تَطَهَّرْنَ فَأْتُوهُنَّ مِنْ حَيْثُ أَمَرَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّٰبِينَ وَيُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ ﴿٢٢٢﴾
And they ask you about menstruation. Say, "It is harm, so keep away from wives during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves."
Intercourse is forbidden during the period.
Quran, Surah Al-Waaqia 56:79
لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ ﴿٧٩﴾
None touch it except the purified.
The basis for not touching the mushaf without purity.
Sahih al-Bukhari 304
Sahih... أليس إذا حاضت لم تصل ولم تصم ...
"Is it not so that when she menstruates she neither prays nor fasts?"
Prayer and fasting are not done during the period.
Sahih al-Bukhari 305
Sahih... افعلي ما يفعل الحاج غير أن لا تطوفي بالبيت ...
"Do everything the pilgrim does, except do not perform tawaf of the House."
Tawaf is not done during the period.
Sahih Muslim 298
Sahih... إن حيضتك ليست في يدك ...
"Your menstruation is not in your hand."
A menstruating woman is not impure to touch, so she may hand things over, cook and serve.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Nur al-Idah with Maraqi al-Falah, Chapter on menstruation, postnatal bleeding and istihadah. Lists the acts forbidden by haid and nifas.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on menstruation (Bab al-Hayd). Menstruation removes the obligation of prayer, forbids fasting with make-up, and forbids entering the mosque, tawaf and intercourse.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.