Women Praying at the Masjid
Answered by SunniPath
Answer Service Team
Question:
I
have a question regarding the taraweeh prayers of women. I understand that
there is a hadith which says that it is better for women to pray
at home. But why did the women at the time of the prophet (saw) perform all
their prayers at the masjid? Also, going to the masjid to do taraweeh prayers means that I get to listen to the
recitation of the holy Qur'an. I don't know many surahs myself which I can
recite in my prayer. Another thing is that in the masjid,
I spend 2 hours in worship whereas at home I spend less than an hour. In light
of the above, would it be better for me to pray at home or at the masjid?
Answer:
Wa Alaykum Assalam wa
Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,
In the Name of Allah,
Most Merciful & Compassionate
From a previous
question answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani:
At the same time, if
there is a reason to go to the masjid, such as learning,
meeting with other Muslim women, or if one is out of the house for a need and
the time for prayer is in, then there is nothing disliked about praying in the
masjid whatsoever.
Rather, top
traditional scholars say that women in situations (such as those prevalent in
the West) where they are not in regular company of committed Muslim women
should try to actively go to the masjid or Islamic center
in order to sustain their faith and religious commitment through its essential
factors: beneficial knowledge, worship, good company, and the remembrance of
Allah in all its forms.
It is in this context,
given the times, that we should keep in mind the words of the Prophet (Allah
bless him and give him peace), 'Do not prevent women from attending the masjid, even though their houses are better for them.' [Abu
Dawud]
Be availed
for that which benefits you.
Wassalam,
SunniPath Fiqh Team
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As
Islam is a universal religion, its call is directed to human beings
generally. "O ye people" is the standard call addressed to everyone
who understands it. No distinction whatsoever is made between the sexes.
"So their Lord accepted their prayers (saying), I will not suffer the
work of any worker among you to be lost, whether male or female, he (or she)
being a believer, these will enter the Garden and they will not be dealt with
unjustly." (Al-Nisa: 124). There are countless Qur'anic verses stressing
the essential fact that human society is built upon the idea of the male and
female pair and that both are equal partners on their own merits in their own
fields. Where any distinction is made, it is a natural and not an imposed
one, as, for example, the rule relieving a woman of certain religious duties
during menstruation, thus lessening her distress.
The
general Islamic attitude is therefore that, if a mosque is essential for
Muslims, it is essential for both partners, male and female. The Muslim
community which attended the prayer at the masjid during the lifetime of the Prophet (PBUH) included both males
and females. It is authentically reported that the Prophet (PBUH) said,
"On many occasions I start the prayer with the intention of prolonging
it and then shorten it on hearing the cry of a baby for fear of keeping his
mother away from attending him." The Prophet's (PBUH) Masjid had
a number of doors. One day, the Prophet said, "If we could only leave
this door for the ladies!" Ibn Omar, who was always very scrupulous in
following the way of the Prophet (PBUH), was reported as not using this door
from then on, leaving it for the purpose mentioned by the Prophet
(PBUH).
Bearing
in mind these incidents, together with the general Islamic attitude, it is
obvious that free mixing between males and females is not encouraged in
Islam. Islam stresses simplicity and decency in dressing, walking and talking
and indeed in every aspect of life. Colorful or fancy kinds of dress, perfume
or sexually attractive things or modes of talking are not welcome in public
places where people gather, such as markets, offices or institutional
buildings. How much more must this apply to the masjid! In the light of all this, Muslim jurists differ as to the
desirability of Muslim women attending the Jummah (Friday) prayer at the masjid.
Al-Mughni,
the standard Hanbali Fiqh, gives his views on the matter of the
congregational prayer. After discussing the acceptability of the woman as
imam for other women, he says the following: "It is allowed that
they-women-attend the congregational prayers with men. For women used to pray
with the Messenger of Allah (PBUH)." Aishah said, "Women used to
offer their prayers with the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and then they dismiss,
while wrapping their heads in their scarf, without being recognized because
of darkness." And the Prophet (PBUH) said, "Do not stop the female
servants of Allah from attending the Masjids of Allah but let them go there without applying
perfumes." But prayer in her own house is best for her according to
Abdullah ibn Omar, who reported that the Messenger of Allah said, "Do
not prevent your women from (going to) the Masjids, though their houses are best for them." (Abu Dawud).
The
best scholarly treatment of this subject is given in the voluminous book,
Al-Muhalla by Ibn Hazam, who was called the "literalist" for his
dependence upon the texts. He is described in his book of biography as
"The great Imam, the traditionalist, the Faqeeh, the juror, the
strong-in-argument, the renewer of the fifth Islamic century, the pride of
Andalusia." In volume 3, problem or question number 321, he deals
extensively with the question of women's attendance at masjids, covering all points of view and mentioning the weaknesses
and strengths of each.
I
will follow his method, with exception of listing the chain of narrators
which he, as a traditionalist, insists upon. He says, "It is not lawful
for the guardian of the woman-father, husband, brother or whatever he may
be-or the master of a slave girl to stop her from attending the congregation
at the masjid once
he knows that she wants to pray. And it is not lawful for them-women-to go to
the Masjid
while using perfume or in attractive clothes. If a woman does so, he is to
stop her. Their prayer in the jamaat (congregation) is better than individual
prayers. The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Do not stop the female
servant of Allah from (going to) the Masjids of Allah." Ibn Omar said, "I heard the Messenger
of Allah say, "Do not prevent your women from (going to) the Masjids if
they seek your permission to do so." His son Bilal said, "Surely we
will stop them." He turned to his son, abusing him in a way I have never
heard him doing so and said, "I tell you the saying of the Prophet
(PBUH) and you say you will stop them."
Imam
Muslim reported from Ibn Omar that the Messenger of Allah said, "Do not
prevent women from going to) the masjids at night." Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of
Allah said, "Do not stop the female servants of Allah from (going to) the masjids of
Allah but let them go in modest dress." Zaynab, the wife of Abdullah ibn
Mas'ud said, "The Messenger of Allah said to us, 'If any one of you
attends the Masjid, let
her not touch perfume'." Jabir ibn Abdullah said that the Messenger of
Allah said, "The best lines for men are the front ones and the worst are
the back ones. The worst lines for females are the front ones and the best
are the back ones. O ye Muslim women, if the male prostrate themselves, lower
your gaze so as not to see their private parts." Omar ibn al-Khattab
used to stop the males using the door reserved for females.
From
these traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) and the attitudes of the companions,
it is clear that, during his period, the golden era in Islamic history; it
was natural for all the members of Muslim community to participate fully in
every aspect of Islamic life, so long as it was a decent and constructive
participation. This is clearly shown in many of the biographies of the female
companions of the Prophet (PBUH). In their book, The Stories of Sahaba, of
the Tablighi Jamaat, the author writes, “Ladies in the Khaibar Campaign;
shoulder to shoulder with their men-folk, the ladies of those times, imbued
with the same spirit of sacrifice, were striving heart and soul in the Path
of Allah; and no service in this connection was too much for them." Ummu
Zyad says, "In the Khaibar Campaign, I, along with five other women,
reached the battlefield. The Prophet (PBUH), having learned this, sent for
us. He said, with anger, "Who permitted you to come here? Who brought
you to this place?" We said, "O Prophet of Allah, we know how to
knit and we have medicines with us. We shall help the soldiers by supplying
them with arrows, by attending them when they are sick and by preparing food
for them. The Prophet (PBUH) permitted us to stay." (Page 164). This is
just one example of how this first generation of Muslims allowed male and
female to work hand in hand to build the newly formed Islamic society with
the knowledge and encouragement of the Prophet (PBUH).
Then
how did the idea of discouraging Muslim women from attending the masjid come
about? We continue with Imam ibn Hazam, who tells us who were the advocates
of the idea, what their arguments were and the refutation of such arguments.
He
says, "Abu Hanifah and Malik said, 'Their prayers in their houses are
better for them'." Abu Hanifah even disliked their going to the masjid for
congregational prayer, the jummah prayer and the two feasts. He conceded for
the elderly women the specific permission, to attend the night, Isha, prayer
and the dawn, Fojr, prayer. It is also reported of him that he did not
dislike their going out for the two feasts.
Imam
Malik said, "We do not stop them going to the masjid" and he allowed elderly respectable women to attend the
feasts prayer and the prayer for rain. He said, too, that the young could go
to the masjid from
time to time. As for the elderly, although they could go to the masjid,
they should not go very often. (Vol.3, page 178).
The
authority upon which these jurists depend consists of three main traditions
showing why it is preferable for women to offer their prayer at home rather
than in the masjid.
There is also another tradition prohibiting attendance at the masjid if
the woman applies perfume. Ibn Hazan accepts the last point as he stated at
the beginning when he said, "It is not allowed for them to go out while
using perfume or dressed in fancy kinds of dress or bright colors."
This
is in accordance with the traditions related by Abu Hurayrah, "Any woman
who touches perfume should not attend our Isha prayer." And Zaynab, wife
of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, said: "If any one of you wishes to attend the masjid with
us, she should not touch perfume." (See Naylul-Awtar, Vol.3, pages
148-9).
But
Ibn Hazam rejects very strongly the authenticity of two traditions while
arguing against the third one, related to A'ishah. In discussing these with
him, we shall point out whether his criticisms are fair or otherwise in the
light of the comments in the text itself or through the criticism in
Naulul-Awtar.
The
three main traditions in favor of women praying at home are as follows. Ibn
Hazam says, "Those who disliked women going to the masjid
depend on the saying of A'ishah, "If the Messenger of Allah had seen
what the women innovated after him, he would have stopped them attending the
masjid."
The second is a tradition of Umm Humaid that the Prophet (PBUH) said,
"Surely your prayer in your house is better than your prayer with
me." And the third is the tradition of Abu Hurayrah, who said that the
Prophet (PBUH) said, "For the woman to offer her prayer in her chamber
is of greater merit than to offer it in her courtyard, in her courtyard than
in the masjid of
her people, in the masjid of
her people than in the congregational masjid and in the congregational masjid than going out for prayer in Eid day." (Pages 179-80).
The
above are the three main traditions mentioned by Ibn Hazam in favor of women
praying at home. But if we look at Sahih Muslim Chap.167, Vol. 1, pages
240-241, we find that, of the three, only that of A'ishah is mentioned. The other
two fail to satisfy Muslim's conditions of Sahih. Ibn Hazm will take up this
point when he criticizes the authenticity of both of them.
But
let us first listen to what he had to say about A'ishah's judgement in this
connection. It makes very interesting reading as it shows great insight on
his part. He lived in Spain at a time when Islamic culture was flourishing
and when that part of what used to be the Islamic world was making great
strides in all aspects of scholarship. His literalistic attitude did not
obstruct his rational enlightened attitude in considering the attendance of
women at the masjid. He
says, "What A'ishah (RA) says is of no authority for a number of
considerations."
"First:
The Prophet (PBUH) did not see what they innovated, so he did not stop them.
Anyone stopping them is himself innovating and as such it is wrong to stop
them. The error is that it is an argument from a hypothetical case." We
do not know any argument more silly than that of those who argue that if
such-and-such happened, and then such-and-such would follow. That is to
make a fact out of something that did not happen.
"Second:
Allah Most High certainly knew what the women would innovate. Anyone who denies
that is a disbeliever. He did not at all reveal to His Prophet (PBUH) that he
should stop them from what they would innovate. Neither did He reveal to him,
"Tell the people that if women make innovations, prevent them from going
to the masjids."
Since Allah Most High did not do so, then clinging to such arguments is wrong
and in bad taste." (Vol.3, page181).
Shamsul-Haqq
answered, "It is really surprising for such eminent scholars to start
building up probabilities and claiming this or that as special cases without
sound proof for such probabilities. If everyone did this, we could all claim
that such-and-such a rule is confined to such-and-such persons. We would end
up in a very difficult situation. As for their saying that it is allowed for
the predecessors but not for their successors, this is a claim without proof,
for all the Muslim ummah is equal in matters of lawful (halal) and unlawful
(haram) things, except those who were exempted by the Prophet (PBUH).
It
was this same point which was not clearly appreciated by A. Siddiqi in his
translation of Sahih Muslim when he handled this issue in Vol.1, Chap.167.
Imam Muslim quoted the same hadith allowing women to go to the masjid in a
decent manner. In his commentary on these hadith, (he quoted other hadith)
and said, “Apparently there seems to be some contradiction between these
groups of hadith, but the exposition given by the scholars of hadith,
especially by Shah Wali Ullah of Delhi, resolves it altogether. The actual
fact is that the women who had the good fortune to live during the lifetime
of Muhammad (PBUH) had a deep longing to say their prayer under his Imamah as
it was an enviable privilege for them.
They,
therefore, sought permission to join prayer in the masjid. Moreover, the moral atmosphere of that blessed period was
quite congenial to the coming out of women from their houses and there was
not even the slightest chance of indecency towards them. Under such
conditions the Holy Prophet (PBUH) did not like to put any curb on their desire
to join prayer in the masjid before daybreak and during night. The Holy Prophet (PBUH)
could well visualize that moral conditions would change; therefore women were
advised to say their prayers in their houses when there would be
deterioration in the moral standards of the people in general."
He
fell into the same intellectual trap of taking the changing times as a reason
for changing to religious point of view. The imam Ibn Hazm answered his
argument. Let us go on with his arguments. "Third: We do not Know what women
innovated or did not innovate at the time of the Prophet (PBUH). There is
nothing worse than adultery. This happened during the time of the Messenger
of Allah and he ordered the lashing and stoning of those who committed this
thing. But he did not stop women on that account from going to the masjid. The
prohibition of adultery is equally enjoined on males and females, without
differentiating. What, then, could make its existence a reason to stop women
from going to the masjid but
not men? This is the type of reasoning that is not acceptable to Allah and
His Messenger (PBUH).
Fourth:
Those who innovated were some of the women while no doubt there were others
who did not. It is quite wrong to prevent good coming to those who did not
innovate for the sake of those who did, except when there is a clear text
either in the Qur'an or the Sunnah saying so, in which case we listen and
obey. Allah Most High says, "And no soul earns (evil) but against
itself. Nor does a bearer for burdens bear the burden of another."
(Al-An'am: 164).
Fifth:
If the innovation is the cause of stopping them from going to the masjid, it
would be more appropriate to stop them from going to the market places or
from visiting, but they did not stop them from those things.
Sixth:
It is one of the great sins to abrogate a law -the Shariah-after the death of
the Prophet (PBUH), without himself having abrogated it. It is even pure
disbelief.
Seventh:
There is no authority in the saying of anyone after the Prophet's (PBUH) saying.
As for the other two traditions, he relied upon suspecting the authenticity
of one of the narrators in each hadith. In the first one, he says that
Abdul-Hameed Ibn Al-Munthir is not known. This point is not accepted, as this
tradition is one of many others on the same point-that the prayer at home is
preferable to the one at the masjid. The same is said about Abdullah ibn Raja'Al-Ghudani the
narrator of the tradition quoted earlier starting, "For the woman to
offer her prayer in her chamber is better than to offer it in her
apartment…." The criticism that these two narrators are not known,
therefore, does not affect the authenticity of the traditions. The valid
point here is that the other traditions ordering Muslims husbands and fathers
to give the permission to women to go to the masjid are more numerous, more authentic and more reliable than the
opposing one. If we add to that the fact that Muslim women used
to offer their prayers in the masjids in the time of the Prophet (PBUH) and the general agreement
of all jurors that he never stopped them from doing so at any time in his
life, we can feel quite rightly that the tradition practiced by the early
Muslim community was for Muslim women to attend the masjid.
The
presence of Muslim women in the masjid, the arrangement of the prayer times and the chapters written
about these facts are to be found in every religious book. In his book,
"Quamul-Layl" Al-Marwazi writes, "An-Nakhaie said, "I
used to call the Adhan and Iqamah and no one would be present to offer the
prayer with me except an elderly woman.” (95)
Abu
Malik Al-Ashuri said to his people, "Shall I show you the prayer of the
Messenger of Allah? Then he put them in lines, men first, then the young
children, then the women." (101)
The
Prophet (PBUH) used to stay in his place in the masjid for a little while after the prayer. The Companions who
reported it said that this was to give the women a chance to leave first.Omar
ibn Al-Khattab, seeing a male and female making their ablutions from the same
basin, separated them. Then he called the attendant and said, "Did I not
order you to prepare a basin for the use of the women?" We all remember
the incident when Omar was preaching and advised people not to give a higher
marriage gift for women or to ask for it. A Muslim woman in the masji said
to him in front of the whole gathering, "This is not for you." He
said, "Why?" She replied, "Because Allah Most High said, 'And
you have given one of them-as mahr (marriage gift) -a whole treasure'
(Al-Nisa: 20) without putting a limit to the amount: how can you limit the
mahr?" He answered, "All people are more judicious than you Omar!
The woman is right and the man is wrong."
In
the light of such reasoning, it would appear that the attitude of one who
insists upon the barring of women from the masjid is the attitude of a wholly ignorant and backward person, one
who is limited in his perspective because of the lack of education, insight
and understanding. He is clinging to a tradition of three to four hundred
years of decadence and stagnation in Muslim ignorant, blind, retrogressive
way of life, which has no sanction in Islam.
But
such a line of thought is not productive. After all, as Muslims we reason in
the light of preserved traditions; the Qur'an and the Sunnah, not in the
light of ever-changing situations. The facts of the Qur’an are that its
message is a universal message without any differentiation between male and
female regarding piety, observance of religious duty and religious obligations.
We
have quoted enough traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions and
other authorities to show clearly that women attended the masjid to
the last minute of the life of Allah's Messenger without restriction or
hindrance. The attitude of the vast majority of the Muslim jurors is not
against women's attendance at the masjid. What the Qur'an and Sunnah enjoin upon women is a matter of
conformity with the Islamic point of view. Women, as a matter of course, are
bearers and rearers of children and suffer much physical distress. They nurse
the sick and the elderly.
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