Women in the Masjid (I)

By Husain Zakariyya Yawale,

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah! We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our evils and bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Allah, is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and final messenger to mankind. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His last and final Apostle, his Household, his companions and all his followers until the end of time.

Few days ago a Muslim sister sent me an email asking to clarify for her and her friends the ruling of Islam on women attending masjid on Fridays while in state of impurity (menses). I replied her that I will answer her in due course. It is thus today that Allah wills that to happen. I therefore ask Allah to grant me the knowledge and wisdom to put across my finding for the benefit all Muslim sisters around the world.

Islam has permitted women to attend the masjid for congregational prayers from the inception of Islam with some conditions attached. These conditions include but not limited to wearing complete hijab which has fulfilled the eight conditions fully stipulated and enunciated by Sheikh Albani (RA) in his book; Libasul Mar’atil Muslimah. Secondly, she must seek the permission of her husband, who in turn should weigh the obtainable conditions and grant her permission or turndown her request. The masjid must have facilities exclusively for women. The timing of the visit to the masjid must not interfere with her wifely and motherly primary occupations as well as her safety to and from the mosque. The most important is that she must be in her state of complete purity and cleanliness from major and minor impurities. She must spiritually ready for the visit; it must not be gossips, business purpose or mere socialization forum with women of the same social statuses.

I remember that a similar question; ‘what is the ruling on a woman who enters the mosque when she is menstruating to listen to the sermon (khutbah) only’ was thrown to the Saudi highest Fatwa body some years ago. The explanation given will be shared with you in the course of our discourse, in sha Allah!

Well, the answer to these types of questions was attended in the Qur’an by the All-Knowing Lord some 1400 years ago! Allah Who has the knowledge of everything knew that a time like this will come when zealous people will stop observing the sanctity of His House; the masjid! He thus warned them before they ever contemplate acting upon the dictate of their misguided ids. Allah says:

“O you who believe! Approach not As-Salaah (the prayer) when you are in a drunken state until you know (the meaning) of what you utter, nor when you are in a state of Janaba (i.e. in a state of after sex impurity before taken a bath), except when travelling on the road (without enough water, or just passing through a mosque), till you wash your whole body” [an-Nisa’ :43]

Thus, it is not permissible for a woman to enter the mosque who is in a of menstruation or bleeding following childbirth or impure due to sexual intercourse before bathing. However, she is allowed to simply pass through for the purpose of fetching water or something essential. A menstruating woman comes under the same rulings as one who is junub. If a someone in a temporary state of impurity is not allowed to sit in the mosque, it is logical for a menstruating woman to be prohibited and restricted because her condition is worse than that of a junub one.

Another reason why the menstruating women are sternly restricted from taking shelter in the masjid was the ruling given by the Messenger of Allah to women of Madinah through his wife A’ishah (RD) as reported by from Umm ‘Atiyyah who said: “He (the Prophet (saw)) commanded us on the two Eids to bring out the virgins and those who usually stayed in seclusion, but he told the menstruating women to keep away from the prayer-place of the Muslims.” (al-Bukhaari (974) and Muslim (890)

The hadith went to educate us on the conduct expected by all menstruating women of all time to stay away from the Eid ground despite the fact that it is not a permanent place of worship like the regular mosques. This position has gone further to inform us of the place of masjid in the minds of the believing men and women.

One thing I have always thought is the ignorance of my Muslim sisters to appreciate that their natural endowment was not mistaken by Allah. Thus, every obedience and obeisance to the call of nature, especially if it is obeyed in accordance with Shari’ah, such becomes an act of worship that is rewardful by Allah. Thus, if a woman finds herself in a state of impurity due to her natural endowment, she should never feel bad about her temporary state of impurity. She should consider that as a special type of act of ibadah. Once the Prophet (saw) said to the Sahabah if any of you had sexual intercourse with his legitimate wives, Allah will reward him for that. A companion enquired, o Messenger of Allah how can one be rewarded for an act derived pleasure from? The Messenger of Allah replied to him that so shall one who did it illegitimately and dishonestly will he be penalized?

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (RA) was once asked; ‘is it permissible for a menstruating woman to attend study-circles (halaqahs) in the mosque? He replied, ‘It is not permissible for a menstruating woman to stay in the mosque. As for passing through the mosque, there is nothing wrong with that, subject to the condition that there is no risk of the mosque being contaminated with the blood that is coming out of her. ( Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 6/272)

Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar (RD) narrated the Prophet (saw) as saying: “The menstruating woman and the one who is in a state of impurity (janabah) should not recite anything of the Qur’aan.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 131; Ibn Maajah, 595; al-Daraqutni (1/117); al-Bayhaqi, 1/89). Even though this hadith was classified as weak (da’if), it was not because of its content and context but for its chain of transmission of which Ismaa’eel ibn ‘Ayyaash from the Hijaazis happened to be amongst them.

Sheikh Uthaymeen of the blessed memory gave a verdict in the following words:
“Is it permissible for a menstruating woman to attend halaqahs in the mosque? He replied: It is not permissible for a menstruating woman to stay in the mosque. As for passing through the mosque, there is nothing wrong with that, subject to the condition that there is no risk of the mosque being contaminated with the blood that is coming out of her. If it is not permissible for her to stay in the mosque, it is not permissible for her to go there to listen to halaqahs and recitation of Qur’an, unless there is a place outside the mosque where the sound can reach via loudspeakers, in which case there is nothing wrong with her sitting there to listen to the dhikr. There is nothing wrong with a woman listening to dhikr and recitation of Qur’aan, as it is proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to lay his head in ‘Aa’ishah’s lap and recite Qur’an when she was menstruating. But it is not permissible for a menstruating woman to go to the mosque and stay there to listen to dhikr or Qur’an recitation. Hence when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) heard, during the Farewell Pilgrimage, that Safiyyah was menstruating, he said: “Has she detained us?” because he thought that she had not done tawaaf al-ifaadah, but they said that she had already done it. This indicates that it is not permissible to stay in the mosque even for acts of worship. And it is proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told women to go out to the Eid prayer-place to pray and remember Allah (dhikr), but he told the menstruating women to keep away from the prayer-place itself”.

When next Friday comes in sha Allah, I will conclude the discourse with more opinions of renown and eminent scholars in history and presently.

[ALSO READ] Women in the Masjid (II)

Written by Husain Zakariyya Yawale

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