Setting up prayer areas for women in some mosques

The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah reward you. The people, I mean, some of the brothers found it difficult to set up special prayer areas for women in some mosques where they pray during Ramadan, and the rows of women and men were not connected; perhaps the women were in a separate building within the same mosque, far away.

The Shaykh : Yes, but the mosque surrounds it.

The questioner : The mosque surrounds it.

The Shaykh : Yes, there is nothing wrong with it.

The questioner : They mentioned the women praying in the same mosque here, and they asked why they do not pray upstairs?

The Shaykh : They do not pray upstairs; this is the Sunnah, they pray upstairs. We have not restricted them, we have not imposed a restriction, and written and telephone complaints came to us saying that our women are tired, and I told the attendants to clean the area near the stairs, which is spacious enough to accommodate fifteen or more, and we found it more comfortable and better for the men’s rows and better for the mosque than this. When people enter, they find this enclosure

The presenter : And there is no objection even if it is within the mosque’s perimeter, there is no objection.

The Shaykh : I am in Mina.