The Ruling on a Woman Leading the Prayer
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Question:
We return at the beginning of this episode—May Allah protect the Shaykh—to a message that reached us from Libya, sent by a group of female listeners from there. They say: A group of young women from Libya, our sisters. We presented part of their message in a previous episode, and they have a number of questions that I hope we can answer in this meeting.
In their first question, they ask: What is the ruling on a woman leading the prayer in Islamic law? And what is the evidence for this from the Qur'an or the Sunnah, or from the independent legal reasoning of the four Imams?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
A woman leading women in prayer is permissible, and there is no blame on her; it is permissible, and indeed recommended when there is a need for it for the sake of teaching and guidance. The statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) applies to them:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 235Sahih (Darussalam)... the hadith. It is established that Aisha and Umm Salama led some women in prayer. If it is possible for a woman who is a reader and a jurist to lead the women of her household in prayer, or if some of her sisters gather at her place and she leads them, then all of this is good and contains benefits. It was also narrated from Umm Waraqah (may Allah be pleased with her) that she used to lead the people of her household in prayer.
So the conclusion is: A woman leading women in prayer is permissible; there is no harm in it, and it is recommended when the need calls for it, and when she has the knowledge and jurisprudence to lead, so that she can teach her sisters and make them understand the rulings, and so that they can follow her example in her prayer, in her recitation, bowing, prostration, sitting between the two prostrations, standing up after bowing, and so on. All of this benefits women just as it benefits men. Yes.
We return at the beginning of this episode—May Allah protect the Shaykh—to a message that reached us from Libya, sent by a group of female listeners from there. They say: A group of young women from Libya, our sisters. We presented part of their message in a previous episode, and they have a number of questions that I hope we can answer in this meeting.
In their first question, they ask: What is the ruling on a woman leading the prayer in Islamic law? And what is the evidence for this from the Qur'an or the Sunnah, or from the independent legal reasoning of the four Imams?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
A woman leading women in prayer is permissible, and there is no blame on her; it is permissible, and indeed recommended when there is a need for it for the sake of teaching and guidance. The statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) applies to them:
The one who recites most of the Book of Allah is to lead the people (in prayers). If they are equal in recitation, then the most knowledgeable in the Sunnah among them. If they are equal regarding the Sunnah, then the earliest of them to emigrate
يؤم القوم أقرؤهم لكتاب الله، فإن كانوا في القراءة سواء فأعلمهم بالسنة، فإن كانوا في السنة سواء فأقدمهم هجرةSo the conclusion is: A woman leading women in prayer is permissible; there is no harm in it, and it is recommended when the need calls for it, and when she has the knowledge and jurisprudence to lead, so that she can teach her sisters and make them understand the rulings, and so that they can follow her example in her prayer, in her recitation, bowing, prostration, sitting between the two prostrations, standing up after bowing, and so on. All of this benefits women just as it benefits men. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.