Are Women Allowed to go the Masjid?

If anyone has been to Southeast Asia, specifically Pakistan and India, you’ve noticed that a lot of Masjids are for men only. Many of the people who live there believe that women aren’t allowed to go to the Masjid, and when they learn that western Masjids often have rooms specifically for women, they claim that it is because of the western culture which has influence the religon. They strongly believe that, religiously, women are NOT ALLOWED in the Masjid.

Because of this, many of us end up questioning what we’ve believed growing up. After all, one of my strongest memories of Eid as a child is going to the Masjid and having to navigate between the shalwars and dupattas of various aunties. So…are women allowed to go to the Masjid?

Well, according to must of the Ulimah, yes, women are allowed. It’s actually specifically the Hanafi and Maliki madhabs who restrict the women from going to the Masjid. Both are mainly based on a few hadiths. Let’s take a look at them:

Ibn Hazam reports that Aisha (R) once reported, “If the Messenger of Allah (S) had seen what the women innovated after him, he would have stopped them attending the Masjids.”

Here, Ibn Hazam also had a few things to say. He claimed that this isn’t valid because none of us know what the Prophet would or wouldn’t have done. This is an entirely hypothetical scenario  (“If the Messenger…), so it is invalid because we don’t have the intellectual resources to know what Allah (swt) and his Messenger (S) would or wouldn’t have done.

Umm Humaid (R) once reported that the Prophet (S) once said, “Surely your prayer in your house is better than your prayer with me.”

Abu Hurayrah (R) reported that the Prophet (S) said, “For the women to offer her prayer in her chamber is of greater merit than to offer it in her courtyard, in her courtyard than in the Masjid of her people, in the Masjid of her people than in the congregational Masjid and in the congregational Masjid than going out for prayer in Eid day.”

I’m sure all of us have heard either these two hadiths, or something similar, before, and I can understand this. As women, we tend to dress up, put up makeup, spray some perfume, deck out in jewelry, and then leave our house- all of which is completely haram. If we’re going to look like queens, we’re supposed to look like queens in our own homes, not outside. And the Prophet (Swt) said that rather than getting all dressed up to go pray, it’s better to just pray at home. There are many hadiths stating that if a woman touches perfume, she’s not allowed to go to the Masjid. Maybe he (S) told us it’s better to stay at home because he wanted us not to be tempted by doing anything haram. Wallah hi 3lam (Allah knows best)

However, I do want to point out one thing- the above hadiths DO NOT stay that women aren’t allowed to go to the Masjid. They state that it  is better for a Muslimah to pray at home, but the option of attending jam’at at the masjid is still open to her.

Now, let’s look at some hadiths that support the attendance of women at the Masjid.

The Prophet (S) said,  “On many occasions I start the prayer with the intention of prolonging it and then shorten it on hearing the cry of a baby for fear of keeping his mother away from attending him.”

So here, the Prophet (S) is obviously acknowledging that women were in the Masjid, and instead of banishing them from it, he seems to be accommodating for them so that attending the Masjid isn’t difficult for them. (Subhanallah, he really did love his Ummah didn’t he? You can just feel his love for us in some of these hadiths, may Allah shower him with infinite blessings. Ameen.)

One day, the Prophet (S) said, “If we could only leave this door for the ladies!”

So here, he is obviously accommodating for women. The mixing of men and women is seen as very bad in Islam, so here, he seems to want to make it easier for women to enter the Masjid. There is how a lot of western Masjids are, with a separate door for the women that leads directly to the women’s prayer hall.

The Prophet (S) said, “Do not prevent your women from (going to) the Masjid, through their houses are best for them.” (Abu Dawud)

So here the Prophet (S) seems to be asserting, as he did above, that it is preferable for women to stay at home. However, if a woman wants to go to the Masjid, than she is allowed to, and no one is allowed to stop her. After all, both men and women are Muslims, and both have the right to benefit from the Houses of Worship.

[A disclaimer, most of the information stated above, I got from http://www.tamilislam.com/english/human_rights/Islamdiscouragewomen.htm. I basically summarized some of his points, but if you want to read more detail, I would recommend reading his article]

In addition to everything just stated, I just wanted to add one more thing. I am a Muslim woman living in the US, so I’m writing from the perspective of a Western woman, and here’s my biggest issue:

>>>>If we don’t make a habit of going to the Masjid, than what are we going to teach our kids?<<<<<<

I mean, think about it. We don’t live in an Islamic country. In Pakistan/other Islamic countries, even if we don’t teach our kids a certain part of Islam, atleast we can hope that they’ll learn in from outside. However, living in the West, we can’t hope for that. Our kids will know Islam how we present it to them. If we don’t go to the Masjid, than our kids won’t even know what a Masjid is! If we don’t read Qur’an on a daily basis, our kids won’t even know how to read Qur’an! I mean, how scary is that! As future Islamic mothers, it is our job to ensure that we instill all of the essential Islamic values in our children. I might not be married yet nor have kids, but it is my dream that my kids and I can live in Jannah together!

So think about that the next time you almost slack off in something…

Last comment (this wasn’t supposed to be such a long post), I have a request for anyone who might read this. Please refrain from using the word “mosque” and instead, use the word “Masjid”. The word “mosque” was derived from Kuf’aar back in the day when they commented “during the time of prayer, all of the Muslims would swarm to the masjids like mosquitoes” (Mosquitoesà mosques). I mean, subhanallah, we Muslims used to be so strong, we should all try to reach that state of iman again, but at the same time, the term “mosque” can seem kind of derogatory…

Ok..sorry for the super long post, but I thought it would be nice if all of the facts were found on one page. Hopefully, it won’t be so long next time J Salaam everyone!