Are Women permitted to attend the Mosques?

Women leaving after praying at Masjed e Nabvi

GUEST ARTICLE BY Quraysha Yousuf  (South Africa)

The women of Madinah would pray in the mosque behind the Prophet SAW:

v     ‘The believing women used to attend fajr prayer with the Messenger of Allah SAW, wrapped up in their outer garments. Then they would go back to their homes after they had finished praying, and no one would recognise them because of the darkness’- Bukhari&Muslim

v     The Prophet SAW said: 1) ‘Do not prevent your women from attending the mosque if they seek your permission to do so.’ 2) do not prevent the female slaves of Allah from attending the mosques of Allah.’ 3) ‘If your womenfolk seek your permission to go to the mosque, then let them do so.’ (Sahih Muslim).

v     Criteria for attending: do not use perfume and make sure you are modestly covered.

Additional Proofs for Permission to Women to go to the mosque:

1. Response of the Prophet SAW: he would shorten the prayer if he heard a child crying to remove the mother’s anxiety (hadith is in Bukhari and Muslim).
2. There are many saheeh ahadeeth that confirm the women’s presence and role in the musjid as well as how they attended the jummah salaat, the eclipse prayer (Asma bint Abu Bakr attended the eclipse prayer (Fathul Baari & Bukhari/Muslim) and the Eid salaat (Fathul Baari). Umm Hisham bint Harithah ibn an-Nu’maan said in the hadith of Sahih Muslim that she learnt Surah Qaaf from the Prophet SAW because he recited it on the minbar every Friday.
3. The Prophet SAW addressed both men and women and told them to come clean and neat to the jummah prayers, he encouraged them to make ghusl- Sahih Muslim.
4. Fatimah bint Qays said in the hadith of Sahih Muslim, that she stood in the front row, which was just behind the last row of men.
5. Once a woman was attacked on her way to the mosque, but this incident did not give the Prophet SAW any reservations about allowing women to attend the mosque- he allowed them to attend and forbade men from preventing the women ( from Silaat al-ahadeeth as-saheehah, Ahmed).
6. The Prophet SAW organised the women’s attendance in Jamaat- he exhorted them to stand at the back, behind the men (Sahih Muslim).
7. Because the men and women prayed in the same mosque, in one area, the hadith in Bukhari mentions how the Prophet SAW would instruct the men to keep sitting after the prayer finished and to let the women leave first. Then he would stand up and the men stood up behind him and left the mosque.
8. The Prophet SAW in the hadith of Bukhari & Muslim advised the women to say ‘Subhaan Allah’ if they noticed an error in his prayers and wanted to correct him- they obviously had to be present to do that.

Conclusions from above:

1. Women attended the mosque of the Prophet, there were no partitions, they prayed behind the men, the Prophet SAW was concerned about them and the children so if there was difficulty with the children he shortened his salaat and he also advised the women how to correct him if there were any errors. The women attended the prayer regularly, that’s how they memorised the Sura Qaaf, they were accommodated by the Prophet SAW and he STRICTLY forbade the men from preventing them from attending the mosque.

Screens separating women from the men in salaat int he mosque

2. What about the Comments that Omar RA gave the final verdict and stopped the women and the fact that his verdict must be respected because the Prophet SAW said to the effect that the muslims must obey the ‘ two’ that came after him (meaning Abu Bakr and Omar RA)?

v     Firstly, Hazrat Omar RA only tried to prevent his wife from attending the mosque as he was a jealous man and also he feared some fitnah- and when she did not listen, one day he disguised himself and scared her, so she turned back. However, she continued attending the prayers and when she was asked why she continues to pray in the mosque when she knows that Omar RA dislikes it and he is a jealous man she asked the man, ‘ what is stopping him from forbidding me (to do so)? He said: ‘The words of the Messenger of Allah SAW. “Do not prevent the female slaves of Allah from attending the mosques of Allah”.’ Fathul Baari- i.e. Omar RA could not prevent her from attending because of the hadith of the Prophet SAW.

v     Note: Omar RA did not make a general announcement to all the muslim women, he only TRIED to deter his wife, but he could not prevent her because he respected the many ahaadith of the Prophet SAW which clearly prevented the men from forbidding the women! Hence Omar RA himself followed the instruction of the Prophet SAW. This is clear because his own wife and the muslim women still attended the congregational prayer and at the time of the Abbasids, the number of women attending the prayers increased to such an extent that they would fill the courtyards and so when men got late, they could not get into the mosque and hence, they prayed behind the women. Imam Malik, as recorded in Al-Mudawwanah-al-Kubrah, when questioned about this phenomenon said that the prayer of the men is valid and there was no need for them to repeat it.

3. What about the comment that the men and women enter from the same entrance and there is thus mixing? See point number 7 under ‘Additional Proofs’ above.

4. What about the comment that there is danger and fitnah? See point number 5 under ‘Additional Proofs’ above.

5. What about the objection that if there are no ladies facilities the women cannot come to the mosque to pray? See point number 6 & 7 under ‘Additional Proofs’ above.

6. What about the hadith that says ‘do not stop your women from going to the mosque, although their houses are better for them’? The Prophet SAW did not stop the women for there was much benefit, spiritual, intellectual and otherwise from attending the congregation, and ultimately, he left the decision and the choice to the women and not for the men to decide for the women! If we say we are not going to the mosque for fear of fitnah, then lets be honest and not go anywhere, as the other places we frequent are worse and cannot be compared to the mosque!

Eid Salaat- because of the wording in the ahaadith and the commands of the Prophet SAW to bring out all the girls and women barring no exceptions, the majority of the scholars are of the opinion that there is ‘wujoob’ (obligation) in attending the Eid Salaat and failure to attend the Eid Salaat runs the risk of earning you a sin for disobeying the command of the Prophet SAW!

Our Hypocrisies

We prevent the women from attending the mosque because we say Omar RA gave the final verdict, yet Omar RA’s verdict was actually that he could only discourage his wife- not all the muslim women- but ultimately, he could not stop her as it was her right and her choice! And she still went to the mosque!

We stop the women from going to the mosque which is a pure place, speaking about fitnah, yet we allow the women to go everywhere else- the malls, coffee-shops, picnics, gyms etc-where’s the logic- go to the filthy place but don’t come to the pure place!

When it suits us and a lecturer or scholar from our particular ‘ideology’/ ‘jamaat’/‘group’ is coming to give a talk, then we conveniently have ‘lady’s facilities’- even in the halls or classrooms, provision is made for the ladies. So what about the fitnah then?

We have fitnah everywhere, in the schools, weddings and at the funerals too, so if you can’t attend the mosque,remember, you can’t go to any of these places also.

Musjid-al-Haraam and Musjid-al-Nabawi are also mosques- so if you can’t go to a mosque in your country, you can’t go to these mosques as well- sit in your hotel room- no entering the Harams-better still don’t go to Makkah and Madinah because if you can’t go to the mosque- why go?

The prophet SAW was courteous and caring to the women, he would come to them after the Eid salaat and specifically address them- today- our men hog the parking, don’t care about the safety of the women, switch off the lights or lock the ladies sections so they cannot come in to pray, they rush out of the doors as if they are dying to get out of the mosque- cannot wait a few minutes for the ladies to leave. In their feeble minds, it’s a nuisance to have the women educated. The Imaams and Maulanas make almost no effort to address or teach the women- paying attention only to the men, they switch off the sound systems in the ladies sections- WHY? ARE WOMEN NOT SUPPOSED TO PRAY AND LEARN?AND WHAT ABOUT THE MUSAAFIR? MUST SHE PRAY ON THE STREET OR NOT PRAY AT ALL?

You choose where you want to be, who you want to be with and what is important to you. I have chosen to attend a mosque that affords me dignity and gives women equal respect. There are a few mosques like the one attend in Laudium with the same respect for women- the proofs are clear- let your intellect guide you and not your cultural affiliations and customs that have indoctrinated you. I am not telling you to go for the 5 daily prayers, but we should attempt to go for taraweeh and jummah, and it is obligatory for us to attend the Eid Salaat.

Jazakallah Khairun