Women in the Masjid (II)

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.
Alhamdu lillah! Last week we successfully treated the burning and controversial issue of whether a non clean or impure Muslim woman is unrestrictedly permitted to dwell in the mosque either as a resting abode or for any purpose of worship. We have concluded that apart from passing by which necessitated her to do that, she is not allowed to enter the masjid as the take of the majority Muslim scholars and jurists of all time.

Today by the leave of Allah we will discuss on two important aspects which are only peculiar with our Muslim sister especially the internet students; those who solely rely on articles they read from the internet. I do not proscribe anybody to use the information available from the internet, but I am warning those who do that to not to rely utterly on ‘most’ of the information regardless its sources! This so pertinent to those who are grounded in the types of information they are looking for. An ordinary asker or querier can easily be manipulated and misled easily. This because there are too many information to chose from out which in most cases 97.99% are downright rubbishes! Thus, a lame or an inexpert person in that aspect becomes an easy prey!

The first aspect is whether women are absolutely permitted to go masjid as their male counterparts or not. If they enjoy the same compulsion, what are the entailing conditions, if not what is the ruling of their visits to the mosques. These related issues will be served equitable justice in our today’s discourse, in sha Allah!

Women like their males’ counterpart have equal responsibilities in many aspects of the Shariah, except a few injunctions which are either exempted due to Allah’s special favours or for for their natural endowment. They are allowed to own, administer and dispense of their estates. They are not exempted to participate in holy outings such as hajj, umrah and jihad. They are however, conditionally permitted to attend the masjid for daily salawats. This last condionality is our major area of discussion like I said earlier.

In the first place we need to know why we are ordered to go to mosques for all our five daily prayers as men, and women were not given the same blank and open order to same. Men are required by the shariah to perform all our proscribed prayers in the mosques under normal circumstances so that we can get the highest rewards; the rewards for praying in large number (jam’) and for the tracking (driving and ridding) to the mosques. Thus, if it chief reason is make more reward for men, then for women it is more rewarding or equal to men to pray in the most secluded place of their house. The Messenger of Allah was reported as saying, “A woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in her courtyard, and her prayer in her bedroom is better than her prayer in her house.” (Abu Dawud, no. 3833).

Another tradition of Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd al-Saa‘idi reported that she came to the Prophet (pbuh) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, I love to pray with you.” He said: “I know that you love to pray with me, but praying in your house is better for you than praying in your courtyard, and praying in your courtyard is better for you than praying in the mosque of your people, and praying in the mosque of your people is better for you than praying in my mosque.” So (on her return to her house,) she ordered that a prayer-place be built for her in the furthest and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed there until she met Allah (i.e., until she died). (Ahmad).

Abdullah Bin Mas’ud reported the Prophet (pbuh) as saying: “It is more excellent for a woman to pray in her house than in her courtyard, and more excellent for her to pray in her private chamber than in her house. [Abu Dawood Vol.1 Chapter 204 Hadith No.570]

Men also have similar priviledge but in respect of supplementary salats Narrated Zaid bin Thabit:

Allah’s Messenger made a small room in the month of Ramadan (Sa`id said, “I think that Zaid bin Thabit said that it was made of a mat”) and he prayed there for a few nights, and so some of his companions prayed behind him. When he came to know about it, he kept on sitting. In the morning, he went out to them and said, “I have seen and understood what you did. You should pray in your houses, for the best prayer of a person is that which he prays in his house except the compulsory prayers.” (al-Bukhari 731: Book 10, Hadith 125: Vol. 1, Book 11, Hadith 698)

Another hadith testified further, thus: Zayd ibn Thabit narrated the Prophet (pbuh) said, “The prayer a man offers in his house is more excellent than his prayer in this mosque of mine except obligatory prayer”.

Thus, if men are after multitudinous of rewards not show-off, it is better for them to pray all their nawafils including the so-called perennial last ten days tahajjud of the blessed month of Ramadan!

‘Amra, daughter of Abd al-Rahmin, reported:

I heard ‘A’isha, the wife of the Messenger of Allah. say: If the Messenger of Allah had seen what new things the women have introduced (in their way of life) he would have definitely prevented them from going to the mosque, as the women of BaniIsra’il were prevented)Muslim: 445 Book 4, Hadith: 161 Book 4, Hadith: 895(

Narrated `Aisha:
Had Allah’s Messenger known what the women were doing, he would have forbidden them from going to the mosque as the women of Bani Israel had been forbidden. Yahya bin Sa`id (a sub-narrator) asked `Amra (another sub-narrator), “Were the women of Bani Israel forbidden?” She replied “Yes.” : Sahih al-Bukhari 869 : Book 10, Hadith 260 : Vol. 1, Book 12, Hadith 828

In fact what most frightening is the noble comment of Imam Sufyanu Atthauri (RA) on this last hadith when he said that “…and today we hate how women go to the Eid ground! Remember that was during the first century of Islam! What would have happen today the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) saw how our women go to masjid?! From their mode of dressing to the way they conduct themselves whilst in the mosque! I personally in my small capacity abhor how women conduct their affairs in the Harams of Makkah and Madinah today! I was on Umra some years ago when I saw people running out of the Haram in Makkah. I moved closer and enquired; what was happening? I was told that some group of women from all part of the rioted in the Haram after Asr prayers. I further asked what the reason was. I was told by some eye witnesses that they were demanding to be allowed to occupy a portion of the centre of the surrounding of the Ka’abah as their male counterpart. Secondly, they were demanding to shown on the satellite TV as their male counterpart. That anything less than their demands were nothing but blantant men chauvinism and stark gender abuse! Just imagine if the Prophet (pbuh) were around! I am dumbfounded and speechless until today!

My dear sisters! There is no doubt that a woman’s prayer in her house is better for her than praying in the mosque, as is indicated by the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). He said: “Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque, even though their houses are better for them.” (Abu Dawud: no. 7458).

[ALSO READ] Women in the Masjid (I)

By: Husain Zakariyya yawale

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