The ruling on placing a barrier between men and women in the mosque
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was able to place a barrier between the men and women in his mosque, but he did not do so. Some scholars say that this is a sunnah of omission (sunnah tarkiyyah), and that what some people do in this age—placing a barrier—is an innovation. Is what they say correct?
The Shaykh:
This is an innovation. This is from the category of covering and providing comfort for the women. The women are at ease, meaning they are cautious about being seen by the men. There is no objection to this. This is good and it is an added measure of precaution. Yes.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
And the covering between the imam and the ma'mumin (those praying behind him) occurred even from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He would stand to pray at night in the place where he would perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat), and there was a barrier between him and them. They would pray behind him, and the barrier was between them. This is a well-known matter in the Sunnah, my brother. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was able to place a barrier between the men and women in his mosque, but he did not do so. Some scholars say that this is a sunnah of omission (sunnah tarkiyyah), and that what some people do in this age—placing a barrier—is an innovation. Is what they say correct?
The Shaykh:
This is an innovation. This is from the category of covering and providing comfort for the women. The women are at ease, meaning they are cautious about being seen by the men. There is no objection to this. This is good and it is an added measure of precaution. Yes.
The presenter:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
And the covering between the imam and the ma'mumin (those praying behind him) occurred even from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He would stand to pray at night in the place where he would perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat), and there was a barrier between him and them. They would pray behind him, and the barrier was between them. This is a well-known matter in the Sunnah, my brother. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب موقف الصبيان والنساء من الرجال — islamhouse.com (53:51)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.