Women and Taraaweeh Prayer:
Ramadan is distinguished over other months by the Taraaweeh prayer. Praise be to Allah The Almighty, many women and girls are keen to perform Taraaweeh prayer in the mosques. However, dear sister, if you want to have your full reward, you should observe the following points and advise your daughters and sisters to observe them:
1- Girls and women should abide by the Sharee‘ah-approved Hijab and Islamic dress code when they go out to pray. They should not wear trousers, tight or short dresses, or fashionable apparel. They should wear a wide and clean dress for prayers.
2- The cloak should be thick, not transparent, not brocaded, not colored and not likely to attract attention.
3- The head cover should be large, long, not transparent and free from all forms of embroidery that attracts attention.
4- They should not wear any perfume or incense. Unfortunately, this action is widespread among women who perform prayers in mosques to the extent that their fragrance can be smelt from a long distance. In an authentic Hadeeth, the Prophet, , said: "Any woman who wears perfume and passes by men so that they smell her perfume, she is an adulteress and every eye that looks at her is an adulterous eye." The Prophet, , also said: “Any woman who applies incense should not witness the ‘Ishaa' prayer with us.” [Abu Daawood] Ibn Nufayl said that this refers to the late ‘Ishaa'. This does not mean, however, that women should not care about their personal hygiene or change their clothes everyday to avoid having a foul odor which may cause offense.
5- They should not move a lot from one place to another, or pass in front of those who are praying or make a fuss. They should not laugh in the mosque like some girls do, stirring and disturbing the women who are praying. They should not discuss worldly matters or things pertaining to the market while the Imaam is talking or in the intervals between the prayers.
6- They should not carry pagers or mobile phones during the prayer, for angels hate music, and it distracts people and prevents Khushoo‘ (submission) in prayer, especially with those strange mobile ring tones. Knowing that it is prohibited to listen to musical instruments in people's houses, what would the ruling be on listening to them in the House of Allah?
7- They should not crowd around the mosque door when they are leaving to avoid intermixing with men. They should wait a little until the place is quiet and temptation no longer exists. They should not speak loudly with one another when they leave the mosque; rather, they should remain calm.
8- Some mothers go out to perform prayers and leave their young children in the house alone. These children might do dangerous things. We advise our sisters and mothers not to leave children alone in the house, so that the mother would not be shocked when she returns. We address every woman who seeks the reward of Allah The Almighty that, in principle, it is preferable for women to perform prayer in their houses and that the reward for praying in the house is greater than the reward of praying in the mosque. It was narrated that the wife of Abu Humayd As-Saa‘idi, may Allah be pleased with her, came to the Prophet, , and said, “O Messenger of Allah! I love to perform prayer with you.” He, replied:“I know that you love performing prayer with me, but performing prayer in your bedroom is better than performing it in your room; performing prayer in your room is better than performing it in [any other part of] your house; performing prayer in your house is better than performing it in the mosque of your people; performing prayer in the mosque of your people is better than performing it in my mosque.” Thereupon, she ordered for a prayer area to be made in the remotest and darkest place in her house where she remained performing prayer until she died. [Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah]
9- Some of our girls, may Allah guide them, go out for the purpose of performing Taraaweeh prayer in the mosque, but after the prayer is over they go off with some of their friends to the markets or other evil place where their parents do not expect them to go. The mother should take care of her adolescent girls and be sure that they are actually leaving to perform prayer and nothing else.
Finally, I would like to say that devils from mankind - while the devils from the Jinn are chained - will not leave you to enjoy the month of Ramadan. Rather, they will try to fill the gap that their brothers have left to ruin that month with television series, movies, video clips, quizzes, cheap songs and worthless programs. Thus, watch out for yourself and your house and do not let that month pass without benefiting from it, and be careful not to squander its reward. In Ramadan, there is no time for such nonsense because it is too precious to be wasted. We ask Allah The Almighty to make Ramadan a good and blessed month for us and for all the Muslims. I wish for you all that is good in Ramadan.
Your Sister, Su‘aad ‘Uthmaan,
KSA.