Women and Mosques

[jabba]

Salam Alaikum

I'm just wondering, I've noticed a lot of Mosques, specifically in Birrmingham only have space for a small amount of women usually only 10% and some mosques don't even have any space for women ( as posted online by the mosque ) Why is this?? Is it because not as many women attend mosque?? (I'm sure they would feel more comfortable if there were more seats for women (if thats the case))
Please help explaining this to me
thanks
JazakAllahu Karin!

 

[Mabsoot]

:salam2:

Women are allowed to go to the Mosque. They are also allowed to be in the same prayer room as the men, as long as they wear the correct Islamic dress. i.e. the Hijab.

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad women would pray at the back of the Main Masjid (mosque) hall.

Islam is one, we should all attempt follow what Allah commanded us with his perfect words in the Quran and also what his final Messenger, the Prophet Muhammad has given us in the way of the Sunnah (Sunnah being all the Prophet's sayings, actions and things that he approved -- all recorded via the authentic Hadith).

-- If we look into what Islam teaches we see that the Prophet Muhammad commanded that women NOT be stopped from going to the Masajid.

"Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque, even though their houses are better for them." (Reported by Abu Dawud).

The Women have as much reward praying at home than in the Mosque.

The following is from IslamQA website:

Whenever a woman prays in a place that is more private and more hidden, that is better for her, as the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said: "A woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in her courtyard, and her prayer in her bedroom is better than her prayer in her house." (Reported by Abu Dawud in al-Sunan, Baab maa jaa’a fee khurooj al-nisaa’ ilaa’l-masjid. See also Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 3833).

Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd al-Saa‘idi reported that she came to the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) and said: "O Messenger of Allaah, I love to pray with you." He said: "I know that you love to pray with me, but praying in your house is better for you than praying in your courtyard, and praying in your courtyard is better for you than praying in the mosque of your people, and praying in the mosque of your people is better for you than praying in my mosque." So she ordered that a prayer-place be built for her in the furthest and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed there until she met Allaah (i.e., until she died). (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; the men of its isnaad are thiqaat (trustworthy))

But the fact that praying at home is preferable does not mean that that women are not permitted to go to the mosque, as is clear from the following hadeeth:

‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, who said: "I heard the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace be upon him) say: ‘Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque if they ask your permission.’" Bilaal ibn ‘Abdullah said, "By Allaah, we will prevent them." (Ibn ‘Umar) turned to him and told him off in an unprecedented fashion, saying: "I tell you what the Messenger of Allaah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said, and you say ‘By Allaah, we will prevent them’!!" (reported by Muslim, 667).

----
Back to what you saw in the Mosques. Some Muslims unfortunately have incorrect ideas, and they believe women dont have a place in the Masjid and so dont make the right provisions for them. As we can see from evidence above, it is completely allowed for women to go to the Masajid.

I have seen some Mosques that have very good place for women to pray, I went to Masjid Umari, it is the oldest Mosque in Lebanon. Infact, it was built using Roman pillars and bricks and is very beautiful. It used to be a Roman Church and dates back over 2000 years. It was built into a Mosque, at the time of the Calipha Umar (radhiyallahu anhu). It has one entrance, which both men and women enter, and the women pray in the main hall at the back.. and this is the design that was made at the time of the Sahaba (companions of the Prophet Muhammad ). --There are no problems.

Also, you must keep in mind that many women probably have a lot to do at home too, (not that men should not be helping at home with the housework and kids!! -- It is definitely important in Islam that they do help their wives -- but that is another topic ). So, therefore less women might go to the Mosque than men. You will probably see more women in the Mosque during Friday Juma prayer, in Ramadan or on the Two Muslim Eid festivals.

 

[kayleigh]

I saw a documentary once that said that something like more than 50% of mosques in the UK don't allow women to attend. I don't know if that's an accurate statistic, but its true that many mosques don't allow women. They attributed this to a very, very wrong interpretation of hadith. I think this documentary was posted here. If not, I know it's on google video. I think it's called "A Womans Only Jihad".

Although women are absolutely allowed to attend and have the same right to the mosque as men do, in general, not nearly as many women go to the mosque on a regular basis since they aren't required to, and they have other responsibilities to attend to so they usually just pray at home on "regular" days, which is why the women's area (if it is a segregated mosque) may be smaller.

 

[Jufri]

Assalam....

In Hadits Shoheh a part word i have read that "A woman mosque is in the house"

 

[Mabsoot]

Bismillah,

Assalamu alaykum, unfortunately there are things much worse than women not allowed to attend there going on. That is why you should be careful in choosing a good Sunni mosque that follows the Quran and Sunnah properly.

Sometimes, the people including the Imams might do Bidah, (innovation ), Shirk associating partners with Allah or they might have incorrect beliefs in Islam, such as thinking that Allah is everywhere, or that by doing Sufi Zikr that a person and Allah becomes ONE.. Astaghfirullah.

So, if the people dont hold the correct beliefs in Allah, or simply do not refer back to the Quran and sunnah properly, then of course they will say and do things contrary to the pure Islam. They will forbid women from the Mosques, they will tell people to make spaces in the lines which is the opposite of what the Prophet Muhammad taught us, even I remember one time an Imam said that Shaitan urinates on the head of the person who does not wear a hat. -- these things have nothing at all to do with Islamic teachings.

For the Ummah to get strong and better, it is important that we go back to the pure teachings and worship Allah properly. This is by aquiring the knowledge of Tawheed and avoiding Shirk (associating partners with Allah).

more info here:
Fundamental Beliefs in Islam Tawheed and Aqeedah

 

[zarah]

:salam2:

Women are allowed to go to the Mosque. They are also allowed to be in the same prayer room as the men, as long as they wear the correct Islamic dress. i.e. the Hijab.

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad women would pray at the back of the Main Masjid (mosque) hall.

Islam is one, we should all attempt follow what Allah commanded us with his perfect words in the Quran and also what his final Messenger, the Prophet Muhammad has given us in the way of the Sunnah (Sunnah being all the Prophet's sayings, actions and things that he approved -- all recorded via the authentic Hadith).

-- If we look into what Islam teaches we see that the Prophet Muhammad commanded that women NOT be stopped from going to the Masajid.

"Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque, even though their houses are better for them." (Reported by Abu Dawud).

The Women have as much reward praying at home than in the Mosque.

The following is from IslamQA website:

Whenever a woman prays in a place that is more private and more hidden, that is better for her, as the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said: "A woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in her courtyard, and her prayer in her bedroom is better than her prayer in her house." (Reported by Abu Dawud in al-Sunan, Baab maa jaa’a fee khurooj al-nisaa’ ilaa’l-masjid. See also Saheeh al-Jaami‘, no. 3833).

Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd al-Saa‘idi reported that she came to the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) and said: "O Messenger of Allaah, I love to pray with you." He said: "I know that you love to pray with me, but praying in your house is better for you than praying in your courtyard, and praying in your courtyard is better for you than praying in the mosque of your people, and praying in the mosque of your people is better for you than praying in my mosque." So she ordered that a prayer-place be built for her in the furthest and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed there until she met Allaah (i.e., until she died). (Reported by Imaam Ahmad; the men of its isnaad are thiqaat (trustworthy))

But the fact that praying at home is preferable does not mean that that women are not permitted to go to the mosque, as is clear from the following hadeeth:

‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar, who said: "I heard the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace be upon him) say: ‘Do not prevent your women from going to the mosque if they ask your permission.’" Bilaal ibn ‘Abdullah said, "By Allaah, we will prevent them." (Ibn ‘Umar) turned to him and told him off in an unprecedented fashion, saying: "I tell you what the Messenger of Allaah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said, and you say ‘By Allaah, we will prevent them’!!" (reported by Muslim, 667).

----
Back to what you saw in the Mosques. Some Muslims unfortunately have incorrect ideas, and they believe women dont have a place in the Masjid and so dont make the right provisions for them. As we can see from evidence above, it is completely allowed for women to go to the Masajid.

I have seen some Mosques that have very good place for women to pray, I went to Masjid Umari, it is the oldest Mosque in Lebanon. Infact, it was built using Roman pillars and bricks and is very beautiful. It used to be a Roman Church and dates back over 2000 years. It was built into a Mosque, at the time of the Calipha Umar (radhiyallahu anhu). It has one entrance, which both men and women enter, and the women pray in the main hall at the back.. and this is the design that was made at the time of the Sahaba (companions of the Prophet Muhammad ). --There are no problems.

Also, you must keep in mind that many women probably have a lot to do at home too, (not that men should not be helping at home with the housework and kids!! -- It is definitely important in Islam that they do help their wives -- but that is another topic ). So, therefore less women might go to the Mosque than men. You will probably see more women in the Mosque during Friday Juma prayer, in Ramadan or on the Two Muslim Eid festivals.

:salam2:

Jazzak-Allah khair for sharing bro

 

[jabba]

Salam Alaikum

Thanks for all the responses

I still think it's sad that there aren't as many places for women in the mosque, guess I'll have to open my own mosque. It'll be 75% space for women and 25% for men hehehehe......

Jazal Allahu Karin!

 

[Mabsoot]

assalamu alaykum,

lol, i was wondering why there was reference to sugar here. Then i figured it out!

Personally I dont take any sugar with either my tea or coffee. And been like that since i was 11. Try it, you get used to it!!

wasalam

 

[justoneofmillion]

assalamu alaykum,

lol, i was wondering why there was reference to sugar here. Then i figured it out!

Personally I dont take any sugar with either my tea or coffee. And been like that since i was 11. Try it, you get used to it!!

wasalam

assalam, brother is there something wrong with the website or is it just my computer that is going crazy!beacuse i only see three people online and some posts start from the botom.....lol jazakallh

 

[jabba]

That means you will prevent many who must attend the mosque from praying while letting all who do not have to! Just kidding, sister I know you are joking.

The cause could be a practical one. Space is very limited and very expensive, so priority is given to men because they have to attend while women don't.

++Ayman

P.S. I used to take a lot of sugar myself. I used to have 5 cubes with every tea or coffee cup. Now I only take one or two cubes. Try what I did: reduce the sugar intake by one cube at a time until you're used to it then reduce it by another cube and so on.

Salam Alaikum

Thanks for the advice But I don't think I'm ready to reduce my sugar intake inshAllah when I am I will deffinately use this advice

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

Women attending the masjid is necessary when living in non-Muslim communities. This is our link to other sisters. This is our major link to Islam. We need to be near Muslims.
Many sisters take their children to expose them to Islam. This is critical. The time spent in the masjid becomes precious. The children see many aspects of Islam and feel at home in the masjid.

If I lived in a Muslim country it would be different. However, this is our community here. This is where we go when we are not at home. There are so few of us here..

The children are exposed to the gentle side of Muslim men. Men who pray and allow chidren to run around their feet. Men who encourage boys to stand next to them and correct the prayer. Men who show boys how to become responsible and pious men.

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

People do not have to be contained in the building. What out canopies/tents if there is space available.
Often people meet in each other's homes.
We can find soulutions as long as we remember the purpose of the meeting. Our brothers in the west need to be gently reminded why the sister need to come to the masjids. They can come up with ideas.