Continuation of the discussion on the ruling regarding placing a screen that separates men and women in mosques

The Shaykh : If we return to the original issue, and the women in the mosque are at least wearing the jilbab, such that nothing of them is visible except the face and the hands, and the gaze of one of the attendees falls upon them as he enters or exits, what is the ruling on this? Allah said: , so there is no blame on this. However, what leads people to invent such means, under the delusion that it is a prescribed means because it achieves a prescribed goal, namely that men do not see women, is one of two things: either ignorance of the correct Sunnah, or negligence in applying the Shari'ah. This ignorance exists, unfortunately, in that many scholars hold that it is not permissible for a man to look at a woman's face and hands. They also reverse their understanding and align with their error by saying that it is not permissible for a woman to look at a man's face. A man's face is not 'awrah, neither for a woman nor for a man. Yet they said it is not permissible for a woman to look at a man's face. We said, "Glorified is Allah, how can one conceive of an Islamic social life where a woman, for example, attends the mosque, attends a lesson, attends the Friday sermon, and must be like this with her gaze downcast? She cannot look at this preacher or the teacher? It is not permissible because this is a forbidden gaze?" No. The Shari'ah did not say this. This is excessive asceticism and strictness in religion. Similarly, it is permissible for a man to look at a woman's face and hands with a pure, ordinary, natural gaze. The failure to understand this issue well, and the failure to understand the public interests (maslahah) well, is what has led many of those in charge of building or supervising mosques to place a screen or wall separating women from seeing the men or the imam while he is praying. This may sometimes cause harm in the women's prayer if the imam makes a mistake. If the imam makes a mistake and they cannot see the imam, what did he do? They only hear "Subhan Allah" from the one in front, as is said in some countries, and they become confused: did the imam stand up for the third rak'ah or is he in tashahhud? So they become disordered in their prayer. This has happened, and something similar happened to me in a story that contains a lesson, knowledge, and also humor. I was once in Damascus, spending the summer in a village called Mada'a, a very active mountain. I went down to the mosque for the Fajr prayer, and it happened that the imam did not attend, and they appointed me as imam. At that time, I did not master the recitation of Surat al-Sajdah in its entirety or Surat al-Dahr in its entirety. So I began with Surat Keif, Surat Maryam. I was astonished when I bowed, for the people behind me were prostrating. The point is that I bowed after reading two pages of Surat Maryam, and all the people were prostrating... What was the reason? It was Friday morning, and they were accustomed to the imam reciting Surat al-Sajdah, so before bowing he would prostrate. They were prostrating, and I was reciting Keif, so I was not there. I bowed while they were prostrating. The mosque, despite its smallness, had a minbar that cut off at least the first row, because I was far from the front now. Those behind me noticed their mistake, rectified it, and joined me in bowing. But the group there behind the minbar remained, praise be to Allah, prostrating until they heard me say "Sami' Allahu li man hamidah." There was a commotion and talk there, I don't know, perhaps a quarrel, maybe they cursed me, called me ignorant or foolish, Allah knows what they said. In any case, I completed the prayer and then gave them a sermon, which is not the point now. The point is the barrier in my story, the minbar, and this barrier we were discussing just now, both are evil because sometimes they invalidate the prayer of those behind the barrier. I have been informed that this has happened in some mosques recently. Therefore, I suggested to Professor Abu Malik to remove this wall, which has holes, but these holes do not allow them to see the imam's mistake or forgetfulness. Because in reality, the imam sometimes stands up for the third rak'ah instead of doing tashahhud, and the people say "Subhan Allah." Sometimes he may see it is permissible to return, and sometimes he does not see it as permissible to return. So what do those behind the barrier know? They know nothing, so it becomes confusion and disturbance. Therefore, it is not permissible for there to be a separator in the prayer place.

The questioner: It is not permissible!

The Shaykh : It is not permissible, yes.