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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Is it recommended for women to run like men between the two green flags during 'Umrah or Hajj?

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The Shaykh : ... There is a disagreement among scholars regarding women: is it recommended for them to participate in the running with the men, or not? This disagreement is exactly similar, in some respects, to the issue of women raising their voices in the talbiyah, where we preferred, without any hesitation, raising the voice, even by women. But here, we have a perspective. We say that if the sa'y area is free of men first, and the woman is in her Shari'ah-prescribed hijab second, meaning her hijab is loose, not tight and not short, then I see no obstacle to her performing sa'y between the two flags. The reason is that the origin of sa'y is from the wife of Ibrahim (peace be upon him); when she ran from that time, it became a fundamental Sunnah. The originator of this Sunnah was a woman, so it should be specific to women, and it is not appropriate for the opposite to be obligatory for men. At the very least, both genders should share in the original legislation of this Sunnah. However, if the conditions I mentioned for the woman are not met, she should walk, just as she walked at the beginning of the sa'y and at the end as well. When one reaches al-Marwah, al-Marwah and al-Safa are two small hills. Over time, they were paved with tiles and marble and the like, so the features of the hill of al-Marwah were completely erased. As for al-Safa, something remained at the back. There, one should also strive to face the Ka'bah, but there is no way to see it. So, the pilgrim and the 'umrah performer should take the topography of the Sacred Mosque and estimate that the Ka'bah is here and not there. Many pilgrims, due to their ignorance first, and for not keeping in mind the location of the Ka'bah relative to the Sacred Mosque, which the sa'y area has become part of, face al-Safa, meaning they face the path which is the sa'y area, out of ignorance. Whereas in reality, if we assume this is the sa'y area, which is long, one should stand like this, turning a half-circle to the right. In any case, this is a matter of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). If the Muslim is granted a dispensation by the saying of the Exalted, if he does not see the Ka'bah:
So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allahفأينما تولوا فثم وجه الله
[Al-Baqarah 2:115]
, it is excused for him not to hit the exact direction of the Ka'bah in his facing, even if he is at al-Marwah. But he must strive (make ijtihad). If he strives and turns, there is no obstacle, just as we do today in prayer if we are in the wilderness and in the open...
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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