Is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), "Pray as you have seen me praying," general for both women and men, and are there other hadiths that clarify the prayer of women?

The questioner : The questioner asks here, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Does the meaning of this hadith apply to men only, excluding women, and are there other hadiths that clarify how women pray?

The Shaykh : The answer is that this hadith is general and includes both women and men. It is an address to all believers, and any address in the Qur'an or the Sunnah using the masculine pronoun or masculine address includes believing women along with believing men. Therefore, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), in terms of its generality including women as well, is like his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), So, means that women are included in it just as men are. Thus, the Hajj of women is like that of men, except for what is excluded. There are some exclusions in Hajj, but in prayer, there is absolutely no exclusion. It is said that there are some exclusions based on ijtihad, and I will mention that. Before I draw your attention to some exclusions related to women rather than men, for example, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) said: This is also a general address, but does it include women? The answer is no. Why? Because it is established in the Sunnah that women are not required to shave their heads; rather, they are required to shorten their hair. A woman shortens some of her locks, and by doing so, she exits the state of ihram. This is a ruling in which women are distinguished from men, so it is not permissible for them to shave their heads. This is an example, and it is a very important ruling that you must know, because most people neglect it when they perform Hajj. It is that the pilgrim must pray Fajr at Muzdalifah. When people move from 'Arafah to Muzdalifah, they combine Maghrib and 'Isha' by delaying them, and they spend the night there. This spending of the night is obligatory, but more obligatory than that is that they remain there until they pray Fajr. Praying Fajr at Muzdalifah is a pillar (rukn). Spending the night after moving from 'Arafah to Muzdalifah is obligatory, but praying Fajr at Muzdalifah is a pillar. Therefore, when a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and said to him, "I came from Mount Taw and did not miss anything until I came to you here," asking whether his Hajj was valid or not, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: meaning the Fajr prayer. His Hajj was completed and his rites were fulfilled. So, two things are necessary, one of which is more obligatory than the other. The obligatory thing is spending the night at Muzdalifah until dawn, and praying Fajr at Muzdalifah is a pillar. But is this ruling also general and includes women? The answer is no. It is authentically reported from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) permitted women and the weak to depart from Muzdalifah after the middle of the night. So, it is permissible for women to depart from Muzdalifah after the middle of the night, meaning it is not obligatory for them to spend the night there, and a fortiori, it is not obligatory for them to pray Fajr at Muzdalifah. Once we know this exception in some of the rites of Hajj, we return to prayer. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not exclude anything from the generality of his saying, regarding women. So, the prayer of women is exactly like the prayer of men. However, some scholars say that when a woman prostrates, she should not separate her arms from her sides; she should not raise her upper arms from her armpits, but rather keep them close to her body like this. Why did they say this? Because of the corruption of the times and the deviation of women from hijab, specifically the loose, wide, Shari'ah-prescribed jilbab in which, if she prays in the mosque, she is covered. If she had separated her upper arms from her armpits, some scholars noted the laxity of some women in their jilbab, so they said it is better for her to keep her arms close in prostration. But we see, and indeed we believe, that the matter is as Allah the Exalted said: Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic), who revealed this complete Islam to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and who clarified to people everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded him to convey, as we mentioned in some previous lectures, did not single out women with a specific ruling in prayer as He did in Hajj. If there had been a specific ruling for women in prayer, the Messenger of Allah would have clarified it on behalf of Allah, as He did in Hajj. Since He did not do so, there is nothing of this specificity that some mention regarding the women of the last times. If they wanted to address the error that some women have fallen into, in that their jilbab or clothing when they leave their homes is not Shari'ah-compliant, they should not address this error with another error. This is an error that must be corrected, and one does not correct an error with another error by saying, "Do not separate your arms as men do," when the Messenger said, Correcting an error with an error is not of Islam at all. It is a correction, as I say on some occasions, according to the school of Abu Nuwas. What did Abu Nuwas, the known licentious man who used to drink intoxicants and mix with concubines, etc., say? "And I treated the disease with what was the disease" So, the error is a disease, and correcting this error with another disease is not permissible in Islam. Rather, women who are keen to pray in the mosques, knowing the saying of their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), If they prefer to attend the mosque for a scientific benefit they wish to obtain, there is no harm in this, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said, But if their going out leads to them falling into a Shari'ah violation, then the saying of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) applies: "If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) had known what the women innovated after him, he would have prevented them from the mosques" The women have innovated these transparent clothes, these tight, belted clothes, these shoes that clatter as they walk in the street, and the like. All of this is not permissible in Islam. So, we correct the error with the truth, not with another error. Yes.