When should women perform the Thuhr Prayer on Fridays? Should they perform it at the time of the Jumu‘ah Khutbah or after it? May Allaah Reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The Thuhr Prayer is due when the sun passes the meridian and extends to when the shadow of an object is the same length as the object itself aside from the length of its shadow at noon.

This is the due time of the Thuhr prayer according to the Islamic Sharee‘ah. Muslims who are not obliged to perform the Jumu‘ah Prayer and are exempted from this religious duty such as women, should perform the Thuhr prayer at any time between its due beginning and end before the ‘Asr prayer. There is no blame in this and such an act is permissible, whether this person performed the Thuhr prayer during or after the Khutbah.

Ibn Qudaamah said in Al-Mughni, "As for Muslims who are not obliged to perform the Jumu‘ah prayer such as the traveler, slaves, women, those who are sick and others who are exempted from performing it due to valid excuses, may perform the Thuhr prayer before the Imaam performs the Jumu‘ah prayer according to the opinion of the majority of Muslim scholars."

However, if the woman was somewhere near a mosque or can listen to the Khutbah, it would be good for her in order to listen so as to benefit from the Khutbah and then she can perform the Thuhr Prayer.