Prayers by women
Fatwa No: 85568

Question

1) What do the Ulema say in case of Eid and Jumma Prayers for woman. Are both these prayers to performed in Jammat and with Khutba? How do women say these two salat. Are they supposed to say these prayers? Kindly explain in details.2) What are the basic differences in the saying of Salats between man and woman? Please list all differences, if any.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

Friday prayer of a woman in a house is not valid, but if she performs it in congregation in the mosque then it is valid and correct.
Muslim jurists are of the opinion that attending Friday prayer is likeable only for a woman who does not attract men with a prior permission of her husband. If they take interest in her for her beauty, youth etc. then it is dislikeable for her to attend the prayer even with the permission of her husband.
Know that attending Friday prayers without the permission of a husband is forbidden. All the rulings of Eid prayers are like the rulings of Friday prayer. But, it is permissible for a woman to perform it in a house unlike Friday prayer.
The differences between a prayer of a man and a woman are as follows:
1- It is likeable for a man to keep apart his elbows from his both sides while bowing and making prostration but a woman keeps them together near her sides.
2- It is likeable for a man to keep his abdomen apart from his thighs while it is better for a woman to put her abdomen close to her thighs.
Know, that the above two differences are according to some scholars. For more details about this subject, please read the Fatwa 84146.
3- A man is allowed to say Subhanallah but a woman is to clap if something occurs in prayer and wants to draw the attention of the Imam. The way of clapping is to beat the back of her hand against the palm of her another hand.
4- A woman has to cover her whole body with the exception of her face and hands if there is no alien man. Otherwise, she has to cover them too. A man has to cover the body that is between navel and knee even though, it is desirable to be well-dressed while praying.
5- A man who leads in prayers should stand before the followers while a woman should stand in the middle of the women when she leads them in the prayer.
6- A man can lead in prayers men, women, children while a woman can only lead females.
Allah knows best.

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