What is the ruling on women following men in prayer when they are in a room separated from the mosque?

The questioner : , O Shaykh, regarding the prayer of women.

The Shaykh : Which prayer?

The questioner : The prayer of women.

The Shaykh : Women, yes.

The questioner : In some mosques... between the place where they pray and the mosque itself, but it is an extension of the mosque, there is another wall... Is it permissible for them to pray in congregation...?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Do you mean a wall that has no openings?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So this wall, I mean.

The questioner : Even though there is disagreement...

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : I mean behind...

The Shaykh : I will answer this question for you, if Allah wills. First, the answer to your question is that the prayer is valid, because they are praying in the mosque; unlike if they prayed in their adjacent apartment, in which case they must pray individually in the mosque of their homes. However, their prayer in the mosque in this room enclosed by the wall, as you mentioned, means that with this enclosure they are still praying in the mosque without disagreement or hesitation. But what I want to say is: there is no need to separate the women from the mosque with this wall; because in many cases the imam may make a mistake, and those who do not see him are exposed to adding error to error, which may lead to the invalidation of their prayer. It is obligatory that the imam and the men's congregation be within the line of sight of the women, lest something like what I will tell you about shortly happen, if Allah wills. This is the first point.
And secondly, because this separation is from some of the independent legal opinions that were not based on the correct Sunnah. They saw that women had become lax in their jilbabs and clothing when they left their homes. Many of them have short jilbabs, so perhaps when they bow or prostrate, something is exposed that is not permissible to be seen on the road, let alone in prayer. So when they noticed this bad situation in which many women were, they said: We will screen the women from the men so that nothing is seen of them that should not be seen at all; whether they are on the road or in the mosque. In my opinion, this remedy is not prescribed; because it confirms the error and then treats it with another error; meaning, according to the method of Abu Nuwas who said:
"And we treated with that which was the disease"
The separation... this separating wall between the women and the men should be removed; because the matter was like this in the time of Prophethood and Messengership. And we always hear our brother listeners of the lessons say the words of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , so there was no separating wall in the mosque at that time, nor even a separation by cloth or curtain as happens in many mosques; especially in Ramadan when women participate in the night prayer. There was absolutely nothing of that, especially since the Prophet's Mosque compared to today's mosques was small... So what about today, where women pray in the last row and men in the first row, with that barrier between them and their view of the worshippers?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, in...

The Shaykh : If you allow me, I have two things in my mind, and I hope you do not forget what you have; especially since we are eager to hear your words; because you have increased in propriety for this long period without us hearing your voice. So I hope you will be patient with me for a little. I have a Prophetic hadith, and a story that happened to me:
As for the hadith, as it came in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" and others, in the interpretation of His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): ... In this verse, this verse was revealed regarding a man who intentionally prayed in the last row of the men's rows; because he saw a beautiful woman there praying in the first row of the women's rows. So when he prostrated with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) — and as is the Sunnah — he spread his hands apart and looked like this at the woman praying in the first row. So His saying (the Exalted) came down: O men, in the first rows; in the last row; where he takes advantage of it as an opportunity for a glance at that woman; because it seems he cannot see her; because she was covering her face, but in prayer she uncovers her face, so this is an opportunity that presents itself to him, and he looks at her. My purpose from this hadith — naturally — is not to encourage men to lag behind in the rows, and women to move forward in the rows so as to... look at them, but rather to prove that there was no barrier, neither of glass nor of curtain, between the women and the men. This is the hadith.
As for what happened to me, it is a joke and a lesson; I came down from Damascus about forty or fifty years ago, in the prime of my youth, to a village that is one of the summer resorts of Damascus, known as Madya. Friday came, and I looked from the door of the mosque while I was on the slope of a mountain on Friday. It happened that the imam did not arrive. You know the people of the villages, they are not people of knowledge and reading and such. So they looked and found a young man whose beard had just started to grow again. They found in him guidance and had a good opinion of him. They said to me: Please, O Shaykh, or young man, or... So I stepped forward... for the Friday prayer. And I knew, as you know, that the Sunnah is to recite Surat al-Sajdah, but I did not know it well. So I resorted to reciting what I knew at that time from some surahs. So I began with His saying (the Exalted): to the end of it. I read two pages, then I bowed, and lo, all the people behind me fell into prostration; why? They were accustomed to the first takbir after the takbir of ihram being for prostration, so they fell into prostration — so the point here is — those immediately behind me felt that the imam was not prostrating, so they stood up... with me for bowing. As for those who were behind the pulpit — and here is the point — they remained prostrating for a long time until they heard my saying: "Allah hears the one who praises Him"... There was an argument among them there; what is this?The Shaykh : ? And what is this that he does not know? Words I do not know, but in the end, when I finished the prayer, I admonished them and reminded them; I said to them: O people, are you Arabs or non-Arabs? Do you not distinguish between this Qaf of al-Sajdah and ? All these melodic notes, you do not pay attention to them or distinguish them from the introduction of Surat al-Sajdah, do you?

The questioner : Do you?

The Shaykh : Yes? , you do not distinguish between this al-Fatihah and that one. If this story had happened among non-Arabs, it would have been...; because they feel the difference between this and that. But it seems your minds are only in your lands, your gatherings, your harvests, and... and so on. I did... What is the point of this story? That this pulpit was the cause of the invalidation of the prayer of those people; because they were screened from the imam. And if this pulpit had not been there, they would have corrected their mistake as those who were behind me did. This can happen to women screened by these walls or these curtains; for this reason we say: .
Now, please, what do you have?