By Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
First published in Al-Ummah, Montreal, Canada
Women’s participation in the work of Islam and Muslims has so far been very limited. Most of our sisters spend their spare time reading novels or watching video movies or making telephone calls and social visits to each other, during which they indulge in idle gossip and talk about who has more and better material possessions (TV’s, stereo and video sets, cars, houses, etc.), unmindful of the words of God:
“You are occupied with competing for more and more until you go down to your graves. But nay, you will soon know (the reality)...” (102:1-3
One reason that our sisters do not spend part of their spare time for the work of Islam and Muslims, apart from their own love of the life of this world, is the idea, held in various religious circles with varying degrees of intensity, that women should concern themselves exclusively with the work at home and that the community work is the responsibility of men only. Naturally this attitude either completely discourages Muslim women from any social participation or it leads them to find social participation in circles where Islamic values are not respected.
Participating in Congregational Prayers
The idea about women's role being limited to housework is, however, a creation of our own minds and is not based on what God and His messenger have given us. Thus, for example, mosques are meant to be the centers of Muslim participation and even though some Muslims oppose women going to the mosques, the Qur’an and Hadith leave no doubt that it is as desirable for women to visit the house of Allah and pray there in congregation as it is for men. One of the Qur’anic verses where reference is made to congregational prayers reads:
“And establish regular prayer and practice regular charity and bow down with those who bow down.” (2:43)
Here the verb “bow down” ('arka'u) is in the masculine plural, but it is a well-known rule of Qur’anic tafsir (and indeed of interpreting most pieces of writings) that unless otherwise indicated all recommendations, commandments, etc. delivered in the masculine plural are applicable to both men and women. In this verse there is no indication of any kind that women are excluded: just as the words “establish regular prayer”, “practice regular charity” are meant for both men and women, so also the words “bow down with those who bow down” (i.e. pray in congregation) are addressed to both.
A further proof of this is found in 3:43 where one of the most saintly women of all history is told:
“O Mary! Worship your Lord devoutly; prostrate yourself and bow down with those who bow down.”
Interesting to note that God does not command Mary to “bow down with those women who bow down” but rather uses the masculine plural which, as we said earlier, includes both men and women. God’s command to Mary thus means: “bow down (in prayer) with those fellow human beings, men and women, who bow down.” The fact that this command is to Mary who lived before Islam does not mean that it has no relevance to us. Nothing that the Qur’an says about earlier men and women is without relevance for us, for the Qur’an does not relate the stories of earlier people just for our amusement. These stories are related for some moral and spiritual lessons but unless there are indications to the contrary they also form the basis of Islamic Shariah, as is widely recognized by Muslim scholars(1)
Consistent with these indications in the Qur’an, we find that in the time of the Prophet men and women alike used to go to the mosque for their daily prayers, including fajr (morning) and isha (night) prayers. This is one of the few facts about the Sunnah in the days of the Prophet that has never been doubted in the past fourteen centuries of Islamic history. Even those who oppose women going to the house of Allah admit this. But they, despite this admission, stop or discourage women from going to the mosques because they think that Hadhrat Umar, after noticing that women on their way to the mosques were no longer safe, stopped the practice. But we cannot base our conduct on this reported decision of Hadhrat Umar because in some ahadith the Prophet specifically tells Muslims not to stop women from going to the houses of Allah. Thus in Muwatta of Imam Malik, the Prophet is reported to have said:
“Do not stop the maid servants of Allah from going to the mosques of Allah.”
Later, in the third century, Imam Bukhari (born 194 A.H.), included in his sahih a similar command of the Messenger of God:
“When the wife of one of you asks about going to the mosque, DO NOT STOP HER.”
If Hadhrat Umar stopped women from going to the mosques, as he is reported to have done, then he did exactly what the Messenger asked Muslims NOT to do. The question is, did Hadhrat Umar violate the teachings of the Prophet, perhaps because he was not aware of the ahadith found in Muwatta and Bukhari?(2) Or are these ahadith themselves not authentic?(3) Or is it that the report about Hadhrat Umar stopping women from going to the mosques is a false report?(4) It is hard to say anything with certainty but one thing is crystal clear: If on the one hand we have some explicit sayings of the Prophet and on the other hand an equally reliable or unreliable report about a suhabi's (companion of the Prophet) view, we have no choice but to go by the sayings of the Prophet, especially when the Qur’an also points in the same direction as the sayings of the Prophet.
Let therefore Muslim sisters visit the houses of Allah whenever they can. And as they do, they should also take interest in the affairs of the mosques. In particular, they should raise their voices against position-clinging people who are trying to control some mosques of Allah.
