Discussion regarding the provision of a separate entrance for women in mosques, and the partition between men and women.

The questioner : I said to him, "O our Shaykh, I said..."The Shaykh : May Allah reward him with good. We specifically requested...The Shaykh : for this matter. And he said, "May Allah reward him with good," the Salafi mosque, such and such, and we implemented it exactly as he said.The Shaykh : Indeed, and it will be, if Allah wills, the first one to pray in it, and this is our intention, if Allah wills. And then we implemented it word for word, O our Shaykh, we specifically requested for this matter.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. And indeed, we made two doors for it: a north-eastern door and a south-western door. The women's ablution area is completely separate from the men's ablution area.

The Shaykh : Okay

The questioner : And we did not make a partition; there is none, no mihrab, and no pillars. And the congregation there objected, saying...The Shaykh : So-and-so said...

The Shaykh : "O people, people are in heedlessness. Even our brothers, the people of the Sunnah—I remember clearly, on one of my trips to Cairo, which was usually our most frequent destination, the headquarters of the Ansaar al-Sunnah in Cairo. They took me to a village or town called Sohag and wanted to show me a mosque that the Ansaar al-Sunnah were building. Indeed, they took me to the mosque, which was still under construction. They asked me, 'What is your opinion after you have understood the layout of the mosque?' And if the mosque had only one door, I said to them, 'Where is the door for the women?' We, of course, know this; if others were to ask such a question, they would find it strange. But they read in Sunan Abu Dawud, from the hadith of Nafi' from Ibn 'Umar, who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered one day through one of the doors of the mosque and said: Nafi' said, on behalf of his master Ibn 'Umar, that Ibn 'Umar did not enter the mosque from that door until he died. And it seems that what is called today the women's door in the Prophet's Mosque is a trace of that door, even though the mosque has expanded. The Ansaar al-Sunnah know this fact theoretically, but they are not attentive to the fact that this is what should be applied. And this is the difference between a group that is upon the methodology and people who differ in methodology. As soon as they heard this reminder, they said, 'May Allah reward you with good,' and from that moment they studied with me where to place the door, and we agreed on a location for the women's door."

Another questioner : O our Shaykh, regarding... you reminded me that the women should be behind the men, so that the women see the movements of the men and follow them.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.

The questioner : I found in a mosque in Tabuk that they had made a place for the women; instead of putting up partitions, they put up glass for the women. The women can see the men, but the men cannot see the women.

The Shaykh : This is a good innovation—(laughs)The Shaykh : and the students—

The questioner : they see the men and pray. What is your opinion of this?

The Shaykh : I took the answer. We were asked there in Saudi Arabia, in the countries we recently visited, about whether women's prayer in these mosques—in most mosques there is a wall or a room that the women occupy exclusively, and in some others there is a wall separating the women from the men, with eyes, you know what I mean—this is less harmful than that. That one separates them from the imam; it is almost a complete separation. This is not permissible. So all my speech revolved around the fact that creating a separating wall between the women and their view of the imam and the congregation is an innovation in the mosque, because the Prophet's Mosque did not have such a separator at that time. And if it had been prescribed, it would have been possible for him (peace and blessings be upon him) to do so, even with a small amount, meaning something that would not cost them much. And therefore, the fact that the women must be in the back does not mean that we put a separating wall between them and the men. Now, what I mentioned earlier seems to combine the benefit of bringing benefit and repelling harm, but it should be tested, because it is in a completely enclosed room, so it is difficult for the sound of the imam to reach the women praying in this room without a loudspeaker.

The questioner : No, the sound is not connected; they are not raising it.

The Shaykh : They are not raising it.

The questioner : ... approximately two meters high glass... . So the sound enters, and the women see the men naturally, and the imam and the sound, and everything is fine.

The Shaykh : Okay, good.

The questioner : ... whatever his voice is.

The Shaykh : And then, one of the things we discussed there and here, which I rarely addressed, and the first time I started this speech was when I was in Ta'if, and glory be to Allah, the disease of heedlessness is the nature of man; that he becomes heedless.