As salamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu I have a question regarding the ruling on leading prayers in my house hold for the last few months my cousin and her husband have been living with our family they live in the basement we all eat together and watch tv from time to time i lead the prayer in my house my cousin who is a female has never been in attendance of the prayer only her husband is it permissible for her to join in as well if her husband is already being led by me in the prayer both my parents and siblings and grandmother all pray in Jamat except for her so is this right i don’t want to be coming any sins without knowing so I have never asked her to join please if you could let me know that would be great As salamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is permissible for your female cousin to pray behind you in the congregational prayer regardless of whether her husband is present or not, and there is nothing wrong with that. Ibn Qudaamah said in Al-Mughni: “It is disliked for a man to lead non-Mahram women in prayer without having another man present with them because the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade a man from staying alone with a non-Mahram woman. However, there is nothing wrong with leading his Mahram women or leading both women and men in the prayer. Women used to join the congregational prayers with the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in the mosque, and he led women in the prayer, and he once led Anas and his mother in the prayer in their house.” [End of quote]

Our advice for you is that you should be keen on attending the congregational prayers in the mosque, unless you have a valid excuse to not do so. Attending the congregational prayer in the mosque yields abundant rewards and great benefits and constitutes adherence to the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. It was narrated that ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood said: “Whoever wishes to meet Allah tomorrow (i.e. on the Day of Judgment) as a Muslim, let him regularly attend these five (daily) prayers where the call for them is pronounced (i.e. in the mosques). Indeed, Allah prescribed the ways of guidance for your Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and they (i.e., the prayers) are among such ways of guidance. If you were to pray in your houses and forsake the mosques, you would be forsaking the Sunnah of your Prophet, and if you were to forsake the Sunnah of your Prophet, you would go astray. Whenever a Muslim performs ablution perfectly and heads to one of these mosques, for every single step he takes, Allah will record one good deed for him, raise him one degree, and remove one sin from him. I remember (a time) when no one stayed behind (did not attend the prayers in the mosque) except a hypocrite whose hypocrisy was known. A man would be brought to the mosque supported by two men (due to weakness) until he would be made to stand in the row!” [Muslim]

Allah Knows best.