During menstruation, women can read the Qur’an and make dhikr (remembrance of Allah) and du`aa’ (supplication), though they are forbidden from fasting, performing salah (Prayer) and touching the mushaf (copy of the Qur’an). In this way, they still have the opportunity to engage in dhikr and du`aa‘ while menstruating.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states: Women are certainly allowed to engage in dhikr and du`aa‘ while menstruating. As Imam Nawawi pointed out, there is a virtual consensus among scholars and jurists that both men and women in a state of sexual defilement (janabah) and women while menstruating or undergoing a postpartum period of bleeding can make dhikr either through spoken words or silently in their hearts.
It is also permissible for them, while making supplications, to use the familiar du`aa’s that are taken from the Qur’an such as the following:
Rabbanaahablanaa min azwaajinaawadhurriyaatinaaqurrataa`yuninwaij`alanaali al-mutaqeenaimaman (Our Lord, grant us true joy in our spouses and children and make us role models for those who are mindful [of You]).
Rabbanaaaatinaafi ad-dunyahasanatanwafi al-aakhiratihasanatanwaqinaaadhaaba an-naar (Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the next world and save us from the torments of the Hellfire).
Rabbanaataqabbalminnaainnaka anta as-samee`u al-`aleemwa tub `alaynaainnaka anta at-tawwaabar-raheem (Our Lord, accept this work of ours, for verily You are All-Hearing, All-Knowing; and grant us repentance, for You are the Relenting, the Merciful).