The very prevalent but equally misleading practice of quoting and following a Single Hadith
Can a woman and if so, should a woman go to the Masjid for Prayers
The other day I received a hadith in my email:
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah
Narrated Salim's father (Radi-Allahu 'anhu):
The Prophet (Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam) said, "If the wife of anyone of you asks permission to go to the mosque, he should not forbid her.” Bukhari Vol. 7 : No. 165
This Hadith, from the standard reference book of Hadith, Sahih Bukhari is direct and clear. A wife is free to go to a masjid if she wishes to, said the Holy Prophet.
However Hanafia, the major School of Thought in the traditional Sunni Islam and comprising 75% of the Muslim Ummah strongly discourages if not forbids women from going to the masjid for prayers. In Surinam, South America, the Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa‘ah forbid women to go to the mosque, saying that the first Imaam (Imaam Abu Haneefah) learned to do what pleases the Holy Prophet SAWS (peace be upon him), and he had said once that it is better for the women to perform prayer at home, because there is more sawaab (reward) in that, and as we come here to earn sawaab, it is better to do this.
This is exactly opposite of what the hadith is saying. How come this glaring contradiction between the saying of our Holy Prophet and the fatwaa of one of our Great Imaams.
This is the challenge in Hadith study. The prevalent and very common practice can be very misleading. A hadith is mentioned in the words of the speaker in a lecture or Halaqua discussion. He describes the substance of the hadith in his own words. And that is all. That is final. Anything that is preceded by “this is a hadith” becomes the final truth.Even educated folks who are very successful in their mundane pursuits because of their intelligence and reasoning offer a blank face even if the hadith mentioned is going against their basic knowledge and common sense. “How on earth can I question a hadith” is the dominant attitude. Uncritical conformity to the valuable hadith literature has inadvertently caused “humanization” of our Divine Religion. Human weaknesses and idiosyncrasies take the garb of religion. This has led to visible distortion in the image and message of Islam. Recently there is a trend to just print the English translation of the text of the Hadith; no references and no Arabic text. This is a real danger; can lead to gross misunderstanding and corruption. It is a very common practice to quote a hadith - substance of the hadith in our own language — during a lecture or a discussion. This is regarded as the final verdict on the subject; cannot be questioned, cannot be discussed because “hadith may ayaa hai”; it is mentioned in hadith. This sort of respect is due for the Holy Quran and the Sunnah but not for hadith.The last needs many more details to asses it; it’s weight, the level of the source (marfoo’, mauqoof or maqtoo), the context, the audience, reason behind it, what are the other ahaadith on the subject, what is the reference, what is the background, what is the occasion for it. This analysis is needed even for a sahih of Bukhari. Hadith is NOT the Sunnah of the Prophet. But it is a major source to find the Sunnah. It has facts and details quite unrelated to our deen but very personal to our beloved Prophet. The Sahaabaas were simply enamored and captivated by the personality of their hero and superstar, the Messenger of Allah. No wonder they went out of their way to catch and record every moment, every move, every word and every action - religious or otherwise - of their idol. All this data has found it’s way into the hadith literature. Unfortunate but unanimously accepted is the fact that this literature has many spurious and fraudulent ahaadith. Imam Bukhari had to reject 995 ahaadith for every 5 that he accepted. Hence the science of Hadith has laid down several rules and directives to understand and follow ahaadith. Some of them are:
It should not contradict the Quran
It should not be against a heavier hadith
It should not challenge the common sense etc
Let us be reminded that the Holy Prophet condemned a person to hell if he attributes a lie to him. We should therefore think twice before ascribing a statement to our Prophet.
Let us browse the Hadith literature to find the answer: Can and should women pray in mosque?
“Abu Hurairah relates that the Prophet said: "Do not keep the slave girls of Allah (believing women) from going to the mosques of Allah. And they are to go out un-perfumed.”
“Ibn 'Umar reports that the Prophet said: "Do not prevent the women from going to the mosques, although their houses are better for them.” Related by Ahmad and Abu Dawud.
“Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd al-Saa‘idi reported that she came to the Prophet and said: "O Messenger of Allaah, 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 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 Allaah (i.e., until she died). Reported by Imaam Ahmad; the men of its isnaad are thiqaat (trustworthy)).”
There are several authentic narrations in the Sunnah where it is recorded that the believing woman used to pray in congregation behind the Messenger of Allah (saws) in the mosques.
"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." Reported by Abu Dawud in al-Sunan, no. 3833, indicating that whenever a woman prays in a place that is more private and more hidden, that is better for her.”
“From Abdullah ibn Umar, who said: "I heard the Messenger of Allaah say: “Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque if they ask your permission.” Bilaal ibn ‘Abdullah said, "By Allaah, we will prevent them." (Ibn ‘Umar) turned to him and told him off in an unprecedented fashion, saying: "I tell you what the Messenger of Allaah said, and you say ‘By Allaah, we will prevent them’!!" (reported by Muslim, 667).
A marfoo’ hadeeth of Umm Salamah: “The best places of prayer for women are the innermost parts of their houses.” Narrated by Ahmad in al-Musnad
The Messenger of Allaah said: “Prayer in congregation is twenty-five times better than the prayer of one of you on his own.” Abu Hurayrah
To assess a hadith the other relevant directives of the Shari’ah on the same subject have to be taken into consideration. In this case, the literalists and salfees would like to add:
(1) She should wear complete hijaab.
(2) She should not go out wearing perfume.
(3) She should have the permission of her husband. Also:
Her going out should not involve any other kind of prohibited acts, such as being alone in a car with a non-mahram driver. If a woman does something wrong like that, her husband or guardian has the right to stop her; in fact it is his duty to do so. And Allaah knows best.
Some of the scholarly opinions I came across on this subject:
A woman's prayer in her house, even if it is offered alone, is better and brings a greater reward than her prayer in the mosque, even if it is offered in congregation.
“As women are encouraged to go out to the mosque, they should be equal with men (in reward) because the fact that men are mentioned with regard to the reward for actions is does not mean that the reward is limited to them in sharee’ah.(Ibn Daqeeq al-‘Eid)
“With regard to the virtue of praying in congregation in the mosque, this is only for men, because they are the ones who are commanded to go out to it, except for the Eid prayer, the reward of which is multiplied for women too, because they are commanded to go out to it.”
Al-Haafiz Ibn Rajab said: “(The reward for) the prayer of a man offered in congregation is multiplied.” This indicates that the reward for a woman’s prayer offered in congregation is not multiplied, because her prayer in her house is better for her.” (Bukhari)
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: “The multiplied reward which is attained by praying in congregation applies only to men, because they are the ones who are called to it in the sense of it being obligatory. Hence the wording of the hadeeth is: “(the reward) for a man praying in congregation is twenty-five times greater than (the reward) for his praying in his house or in the marketplace.” Based on this, women do not attain this reward; indeed the scholars differed with regard to whether it is prescribed for women to pray in congregation separately from the men in their houses or in schools. Some of them said that it is Sunnah for them to pray in congregation; others said that it is permissible for them to pray in congregation; and some said that it is makrooh for them to pray in congregation.”
“Let me begin by saying categorically, that Islam does NOT forbid women from going to the mosque. In fact, it was encouraged by the Prophet when he said, “‘Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from going to the mosque…” (Muslim, Abu Dawud).”
“Now, the most oft-quoted tradition supporting women praying at home states, “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, al-Tirmidhi). In context, this saying was related to the people after the Prophet had announced that men gain more reward when they pray in congregation at the mosque. Nonplussed by this announcement, a woman approached him and said, “but I’m at home with the kids and the housework. I can’t get to the mosque — that’s not very fair, is it?” The Prophet agreed, but explained it in terms of a woman’s responsibility in the private sphere: In context, the tradition is saying that while men get more reward by going to the mosque, women who have responsibilities at home get the same reward when they pray at home.” I think this an excellent example to demonstrate that knowing the background can can significantly alter the interpretation of a hadith. As I understand it now, Shari’ah acknowledges that a woman’s trip to the mosque may seriously hinder her obligations at home. Hence it has elevated her home as the best place for her prayers and promised her the same reward as for a man praying in jamaa’h in the mosque; yes including the extra 27 times.
What is the take for us, the PPK Muslims from this confusing data:
Women cannot and should not be stopped from praying in the mosque. Doing so can be regarded as bidah and in transgression of the commandment and guidance of the Messenger of Allah.
Acknowledging the the domestic responsibilities of Women, our Shari’ah has upgraded their home as the place for worship. They will get as much sawaab by praying solo at home as men get in the masjid by jamaa’h including the extra 27 times.
There is scholarly opinion to support that our beloved Prophet encouraged women to go to the masjid.
In the final analysis it is the choice of the woman to go or not to go to the masjid, depending on her duties and responsibilities at her home.
In the Western countries, it is entirely different ball game as most masaajid are Community Centers as well.
And Allah knows best.
