Sisters attending musjids

As salamu alaikum,

I was wondering what others thought (esp the Ulama)...recently I heard there is some sort of talk about whether or not sisters are allowed in the musjids (with respect to UK musjids esp London) and then I found out that most masajid including markaz musjid don't even have space for sisters to come and pray??

Suban Allah! Since when have we become more 'pious' than the Prophet Sallaho alahi wassallam and the Sahaba Radiallaho anhom?! I have been told that the Sahabiyat Ridwan Allah alayhuna used to come to Musjid Nabawi and be in the space space as the men, separated by a row of children!!

Furthermore, in my Arabic Dars we went over a Hadith in Abi Dawood: Abdullah Ibn Umar Radallaho anhoma reports that the Prophet Sallaho alahi wassallam said: "DO NOT prevent your women from the musjids; but their houses are better for them." Although without doubt the reward for women is gretaer if they pray at home, we CANNOT stop them from the masajid.

I was also told by my Arabic teacher that the SON of the blessed narrator Ibn Umar Radiallaho anhoma once was angry at his wife and forbade her from the musjid. Ibn Umar (his dad) Radiallaho anhoma heard this and told him that he was not allowed to forbid her from the musjid since Rasululah Sallaho alaih wassallam had said so. His son didn't listen. SUBHAN ALLAH!! Ibn Umar Radaillaho anhoma was so much engrossed in the Love of Nabi Sallaho alahi wassallam, that he was so upset at this disobeidence of Nabi Sallaho alahi wassallam that he refused to talk to his son and never spoke to him again!!

Just to remind ourseleves about the elevated status of Ibn Umar Radiallaho anhoma - he was so shadeed in his Love of the Prophet of Allah Sallaho alahi wassallam, that there was a time when Nabi Sallaho alahi wassallam used to walk a certain way and had to duck down to pass a tree. Whenever Ibn Umar Radiallaho anhoma passed that spot, although he was shorter than Nabi Sallaho alahi wassallam, he too would duck! That was how much he stuck to the Sunnah!

So again, how can our masajid not make room for our sisters?! What 'piety' is that?! As long as they maintain proper Islamic dress, then in this day and age when our sisters (and brothers!) are falling away from Deen, we should encourage ladies to attend Islamic gatherings, Ta'leem and Dars in the masajid.

What do the Ulama say about this issue please?

Allah Knows Best

as far as i am aware, women are allowed to enter the masjids for taleem etc in london. yes, the taleem/dars etc need to be more frequent than before. mind you, cant remember the last time there was one in my local masjid. (my local taleem takes place in a house.)

in america, ladies were going to take the men to court over an issue which is not even permitted in islam. the women wanted to enter through the same main doors as men. the women wanted to do imamat. - whats this world coming to?

going to the masjid for taleem, i would reccomend. they should do classes in mosque for women. (away from namaz times)

i am wavering of the subject.
aag, you need to submit this in the question section. so maybe that way, the ulamaa will answer you.

We know Mufti Saeed PaIunpuri (DB) said (at Stamford HiII musjid a few years back) that musjids should have facilities in the musjid that caters for the deeni requirements (such as darse's, taIeem and/or other such activities) for older sisters and Mufti Yasin Shaikh from this site aIso mentioned in the "sisters event" thread something along the same Iines.

With regards to normal prayers these are probs best prayed at home. However AII musjids stiII should have this facility for women (smaII room would do with ensuite toiIet/wudo) who are not from the IocaI area but are passing through and need a place to offer saIaat. Countless times in our IocaI Guji musjid here in hackney sisters passing by sometimes aIone or with their mahrams needed to pray their farz saIaat but as the musjid had no such facility committee members or others refused them so they probs had to pray on the dirty napaak streets or make their saIaats qaza which is haraam. Some times a house is suggested to them that wiII aIIow her to pray in but this is NOT the solution. You cant bang on next mans yard every time u wanna pray saIaat. Its not right!. This, aIhumdoIiIIah, has started to change slowly as now the same musjid does aIIow for such women to pray in the upper empty floors.

But yes i do admit many desi musjids in the UK don't aIIow women at aII. slowly some are changing but more need to. Some are quite wrong to an extent that they believe its haraam totally for older women to come to musjids for ANY reason which is 100% false but then you also get the other extreme who want sisters as the main presidents of musjids and as imams leading mixed gathering of brothers and sisters standing together like that "progressive Muslim Organisation" confused bunch in the USA which we have to be very carefuI of not heading towards here in the UK. There can be a sisters sub-committee with aaIimahs and other good deen sisters on to look after the needs of sisters.

But those sisters who do come to the musjids for such deeni activities should be very careful in how they spend their time whilst there. As having herd from some sisters even in tabIighi taIeems sisters sometimes chat about this and that too much which then negates the whole reason for sisters going in the first place. AaIimah sisters should ensure such an environment is NOT created which can or wiII lead to huge fitna.

With regards femaIe imams Insha-aIIah this wont happen as the USA hardly had any daruI Iooms so hardly no good schoIars were/are there (there's some now) to guide them as a result the masses are very moderate in their interpretation of shariah i.e mixed talks, English jummah qutbahs which is a massive prob in the US and others. As the UK has quite a few good daruI-Iooms hopefuIIy we go down the South Africa route. They have had daruI Iooms in abundance for ages (going back to late 18th century) churning out male and female scholars hence there's many scholars to guide them so now they don't have any such problems as the USA currently have.

p.s sorry for the bad speIIing/grammer/punctuation!

Queenie:

Whether a sister comes for salah isn't the point here - yes, we shold encourage our sisters to pray at home becuase it is better and more rewarding - however, what we can't do is to physically STOP them from coming at all by not having provisions and aqeduate space/facilities.

The Prophet in an authentic Hadith is reported to have said: "A salah in my Musjid is better than 1000 salah in any other musjid except for Musjid al-Haram." Please do consult the Ulama whether your not attending salah in the Haramain is the best thing to do - a single salah in Al-Haram Al-Makki is worth 100,000 more!

And Allah Knows Best!

The middle way is that women should be encouraged to offer their regular prayers at home, and not come to the Mosque habitually without having a need to do so. At the same time, every Masjid should have facilities for a woman's prayer area, so that if a sister is travelling she is able to make Wudu and offer her prayers without having to miss her prayers altogether. In the case of women coming to the Mosque, extreme care and precaution should be taken of observing the rules of Hijab, so that there is no fear of any Fitna. Both brothers and sisters should have separate entrances, and open intermingling of the two genders must be avoided. Sisters should also be wary that going to the Mosque should not lead to the non-fulfilment of their other household duties.

www.daruliftaa.com/question.asp?txt_QuestionID=q-21225280

true say - a very frequent prob!

Most UIama incIuding those at the makkah daruI Ioom SoIatia agree on this that its best especiaIIy when its extremeIy packed nearest to hajj and maybe ramdhan for women to offer prayers at hoteI as getting to and from haraam (in makkah that is not so madinah i think as madinah has a totaIIay sep women sections) is impossibIe without rubbing up against non-mahrams.. However if she wants to go 45mins before saIaat before the main rush starts and sits right at the back in a pIace where mainIy women are and there's no men at aII praying behind her (as according to some of our uIama this wiII make the mans and womens saIaats makrooh if she's infront with any men behind) it may be OK -aIso she wiII have to wait for another 30mins or so for the main rush to cIear out after saIaat to again avoid any contact/rubbing with non-mahrams. so some rather then taking nearIy 2 hours or so for this process for each saIaat prefer parying in the hoteI room.

firstly what muslimah said is what i have read and i have also been advised also by some of the respected ulema that because of the changes in society and the hijab (or should i say the veil) not being worn it is best for women to read at home.... and also we have to understand we are not living in the times of our Holy prophet Sallallaho alayie wasalaam....we are living now, where women are not safe and also the mosque in my understanding was built for the man and the home is for the women BUT like some brothers have pointed out we can't exactly turn women away but again so much is stressed about SISTERS wanting to read namaz at mosque when really we should be more bothered about getting it read and reading it rightly and NOT about where it is read.......

we also have to understand that times have changed.......and i can certainly say that the women at the time of our last prophet Sallallaho alayie wasalaam were alot more different than we are today....we cannot be compared to them BUT still sisters will say "we want to read in mosque"......again so much stress as to where the namaz is read!

There are ways in which sisters can speak to a male n there family to speak on there behalf to the main people at the mosque but for the sisters to go and talk direct i dont think is right.....(and no its not because i'm being sexist)...it's because sisters today need to do things with modesty NOT force.......

I am just happy to be able to read my namaz with full concentration.......

ALLAH knows best

jazakAllah

There's no point in women going to the masjid, coz praying at home, in her corner, can be much more rewardful (?) than praying in the masjid.

As for the haram, as brother daywalker mentioned, it's hard to avoid contact with men and it's so much better if she prays in the hotel, and then comes to listen to the salah (I did this and found it much more peaceful).

If a woman thinks that going to the masjid like men do will make her rank higher, she's got to think again. I think Mufti Muhammad Ibn Adam's answer just says it all. No point in discussing (correct me if I'm wrong) coz the Ulama have told us what's right and what's not.

Wassalam

jazakALLAH