Is Women’s Prayer Different From Men’s? Or Regarding Prayer Differences – Ask Shaykh YQ #222

Our next question, sister waters from Indonesia emails up acabar, Indonesia. And she asks that she has grown up praying slightly differently than the men of her household. But now she is coming across videos. And she's being told that there are no differences between the prayer of the men and the prayer of the woman. And so she's asking me that, what should she do she pray like the way she was taught as a child. And she has a number of differences in your email. Or she should abandon this and change your prayer and pray in a different style. One

out of seven, me, Kobe, Nika. ille. de Jalan, no, hey, la him. First.

recovery in.

Now, since I have started this long series of Q and A's, and I think I have done over two 300 questions, I think by now, since I started this q&a, I have received hundreds of emails about specific issues of the Salah, about where to place the hands about Fatiha and behind the Imam about surah saying I mean, about how to move the finger in the Dasha, how do you move it up? Once you move it round and round? What do you do? I've gotten all of these emails and have not answered a single one of them. And I will tell you why in today's lecture, I haven't answered a single one of them. The reason that I haven't answered any of these questions about the finer details of the procedure

of the solder is that these details, frankly, do not do not affect the validity of the solder in the slightest. And the problem of assuming that only one of these positions is correct and the rest are all wrong. This problem is actually what is one of the root causes of perhaps a type of fanaticism, or a type of spreading fitna in the community. The reason being, that the claim that only one position, or one opinion is the right one. And all the rest of them contradict the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is, in fact a very dangerous philosophy to hold. And the irony is that it contradicts the actual lived realities of the first generations of Islam, those that are

called the self, the first generations of Islam. And ironically, there is a disconnect between some groups who claim to follow those generations. And between those actual generations, those early generations tolerated and respected, much more differences, then perhaps a movement that claims to follow that generation. Mr. Mushaf, very famously remarked, I believe the position that I have come to is correct. But I concede the possibility that is incorrect. And I believe that the position of the other men have the other school is incorrect, but I concede the possibility that it is correct. This is Mr. Mushaf theory.

In other words, I'm fairly certain that Yeah, I'm going to follow this position, but I'll acknowledge I could be wrong. And maybe the other position is right Subhan Allah, this is a mama Shafi saying this. So then somebody comes along and says, This is the Huck and the Sunnah. And anybody who does that opinion is upon Dalton and bidda. No, this is where fanaticism comes from. This is where dangerous ideas and trends come in, that break the civil harmony that a Muslim society should be upon. And unfortunately, unfortunately, some scholars and some students of knowledge, they make these issues into Suna versus Buddha. And so as they say, it is sooner for a man to do this,

whatever the 50 position might be, and anybody who does the other is doing something better. And that bid might be the mainstream jaffery madhhab it might be the official doctrine of the Hanafi madhhab. It might be the Maliki or the whatever somebody might be, but they're gonna say no, this is what this Suna says Subhan Allah, where do you think the other mothers are getting their their positions from out of thin air? Are they wanting to contradict the Sunnah. And in reality, as I, as I have said, in many, many of the q&a, that this is a sign frankly of

shallow study of Islam. The more deeper one studies is, and the more in detail and in depth one goes in all of these mainstream methods. The more one realizes that all of these methods are

Attempting to discover the sun. In reality, sometimes the evidences are acceptable for multiple interpretations. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yes, agreed. If somebody performs Salah in a way that has no basis whatsoever, I mean, let's say he's jumping up and down during the show, there's something we'll say, obviously, this is this is how long this has been. But let's be clear here, the established schools of law. And these are the four primary schools of Sunni law. And you can add some other lawyers or whatever the established schools of law, they have track records that go back 1200 years, 1200 years of scholarship, and each one of them has an entire galaxy of odema,

from the second century, all the way up until modernity, each one of them has a system, a developed system, a holistic system, each one of them has too many books that can fill multiple libraries. And they have understood the evidences and responded to the other evidences of the other groups. And they have a holistic and a, a well structured methodology. And final result, which is the fifth of all of their schools, and somebody comes along and simply dismisses all of this and says, I have discovered the Sunnah way, no, you have not it is one interpretation, it is your interpretation. And it doesn't dismiss the interpretation of all the other people. So my point being that the reason why

I have never taken any of these questions is that every single one of the differences between them and tabs, when it comes to the procedure of Sunnah is absolutely an utterly inconsequential and trivial. So you want to pray with your hands here, or here, or here or here, or you want to say the I mean, behind the Imam or not, or you want to say the fact they are not all of it is fine, live, and let live, follow what you were taught, follow your society and people and let other people follow what they are doing. In the end of the date. What we agree upon in the Salah is much, much more than what we disagree upon. Unfortunately, some people they just want to fight and they want to

make these trivial differences much bigger, oh, it is better to put your hands over here or here or here. No, all of it is trying to come from the sooner all of it is trying to find evidences from the sooner in this regard. And we have to understand that when it comes to differences of opinion, we have to understand that there is a spectrum. And one section of that spectrum is totally acceptable. Once one section of the spectrum of if they laugh is totally acceptable. And generally speaking, and by acceptable i don't i don't mean they're all equally valid. I mean that we should live in that love we should tolerate I mean that we should never consider another opinion within this spectrum to

be an invalid opinion. That is an evil opinion that the person who does it is contradicting the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu it who was setting up and generally speaking, this spectrum is manifested within the mainstream Sunni movements of Lord the Hanafi is the shafter is the magic is in the ham, berries and the other schools that are the smaller schools that also have existed historically, that it is in this spectrum that we find the famous statement that is, it's also attributed in the Hadith, but it most likely is the statement of the Sahaba that the difference of opinion amongst the oma is a mercy from Allah. Almighty Rama the difference of opinion amongst the

oma is a mercy from Allah subhana wa Taala. And anybody who studies fic will know that the companions themselves different overhead and how long the combat companions themselves different over the procedures of fic Do you know it is authentically authentically reported that, you know, some of the Sahaba placed their hands here and some of them placed in place their hands there, what are you going to do? Are you going to if you were alive, would you go to one of the Sahaba in front and say, hey, you're not following the Sunnah because, you know, my shift said that the sooner is there. Think about this, think about this, right? And And so again, the point being, the whole

notion of rediscovering the sooner after 14 centuries of Salah, and somebody comes along and says this is the way the Prophet system prayed as if nobody before him ever did that. This is not that he should simply say or somebody should say, in my opinion, according to my HD heart, yes, that's fine. But to make definitive statements, impossible to do now, you weren't there you didn't see and the Sahaba who saw they prayed multiple ways. Well known, well attested. If you go back to the actual books, of Hadith and of the Muslim death and whatnot, it is well known and well attested multiple ways which probably indicates

as brothers and sisters that the Prophet says and mighty pray slightly differently, no big deal. That's really an even if there's, you know, gray area no big deal whatever one does insha Allah, it's not it's not, you know, a major issue. I mean, the fact of the matter is no men have different that you're supposed to face mcca say you know, Allahu Akbar, you know, go one record two such does, you know, they all agree that the hood is ford motor is three, so why not look at the commonality rather than talk about how do we? Where do we put the hands? Or where do we move the fingers or the mean, are men and women praying differently and what not. Now, if you want to dedicate your life to

Islamic scholarship, you want to become a chef and alum or you have the the the the enthusiasm to go deep, then yes, that is a different issue in private gatherings, you know, you don't need to bring this up in public. You know, if you are following one madhhab and you want to find fine tune your knowledge and skills and what not, then you may politely debate and say, Hey, what is your evidence? Okay, I have this, how do you respond to that, and this is nice and an intellectual exercise. This intellectual exercise should not take place amongst people who are struggling to pray five times a day, this is a great exercise is very fun to do. I do it all the time, when many, many issues, but

you do it amongst the people that need to do it. And amongst whom this exercise will actually bring about some benefit. The one who is struggling to pray five times a day for you to come to this person to say, hey, you're praying wrong, you shouldn't put your hands there, you should put your this there your niche, go first your house go first. I mean, just you know, tell this person, hey, however you're praying, good. Just pray five times a day, however you're praying is good. Except, you know, as long as it's within obviously, again, let me just be clear, because Allah has tested me people love to take five second clips and create much drama out of this. What I'm saying is, as long

as it's one of the acceptable schools of law, obviously, if somebody is doing something, that none of the schools of law allows these praying in a direction other than the Qibla, for example, obviously, then we're not talking about that we're talking about within the acceptable schools of law, somebody has a different opinion. So if you're studying full time, and you want to go into deeper evidence is no problem. This is where for those audiences, yes, talk about this issue. Now, this sister did ask me what is my opinion on this issue? And like I said, firstly, my opinion is irrelevant when great Roma has spoken. And it's not something new. It's not something classic. It's

like been there done that. But if you insist to No, I will say, like I said, The matter is easy. It's wide and open. It's not a big deal. If a sister feels that she should pray exactly like the men, which is the position of some of the scholars of our times, because there's no authentic hadith, in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam specifically said to a lady that you should pray differently, and I repeat, there is no authentic hadith, according to many scholars of Hadith. And again, it all goes back to according to whom, because that's the whole point. When I say there's no authentic hadith. That's perhaps my opinion, and the opinion of many other scholars of Hadith,

but it's not definitive, you will find another Google Scholar see, well, there is this Hadith, and I think it's authentic, and perhaps other goals. I don't think it's authentic, what is the average person going to do? This is why you must blindly follow the lead of a scholar whom you trust. And in any case, you're asking me, I would say that even though there is no authentic hadith, and therefore, because of this, one group of of scholars have said the woman should pray like the man and I understand that, however, the vast majority opinion since the time of the set of themselves is that a woman should pray in a manner that is more modest than that of a man and therefore, her such

the inner her such that her body should be closer and closed up and her hands should also be more you know, towards her body. And in her record, as well should be as the point being this group and who is this group? Oh, it is. The default position of the Hanafi is the shaffir is the magic is in the humblest Let me repeat that. It is the default position of all of the meta that the lady prays in a slightly different matter than the man. And again, the irony of ironies for movement to come and say, we're following the setup when the actual setup themselves clearly and the irony here as well. We have authentic narrations from from a number of Sahaba in this regard as well, it is

attributed to it with your loved one, that he said he the selected model for data feeds will tell them that if a woman prays, let her be extra cautious, and also let her put her feet or her thighs closer together. Like meaning when she goes into such depth, let her body and her you know stomach be closer to her thighs, and even a model the loved one said would command the women of his household to fold their limbs when they were doing in such. So here, we have the

Actual scholars and the Tabby rune on the Sahaba. And there are many for the tebboune as well, who are clearly saying that, you know, a woman should be a little bit more protective of her modesty. And the reason for this is that their understanding their understanding that there's general rules of the *tier that can apply over here. And those general rules mean that a lady should overall be more protective of her, you know, body and her chastity and well, not just here, but I'm displaying her body. And when she goes into says that when she goes into the court, then obviously it is better for her to be more covered up. And so put your hands closer together. And this is common sense. You

don't need to have an explicit Hadeeth for everything when there are generic texts that give you that same interpretation. And that is why brothers and sisters, the default of the oma really has been that a lady pray slightly differently than that of a man. Nonetheless, I stand by what I said in the first part of this q&a. And that is that if you really believe that, she should pray the same way because you think that is the correct position. So be it do so. But don't make a controversy, meaning Don't, don't create animosity or hatred and don't make the other person feel as if they're against the sooner this is the problem. I don't have a problem. You follow your opinion, even if

it's a minority opinion with no problem, you do that. And it's between you and Allah subhana wa Tada. But I really have a problem when a person follows an opinion of one share for one month, one Wolf, dear one Islam q&a site, and then things all the other opinions by reputable odema or Boulton, one of the main goals throughout this q&a has always been to teach tolerance and compassion when it comes to our fixed understandings. And that's why I'm bringing up this question. And I'm not going to inshallah go into all the other questions about saying, Amina, what, or that's not my goal for this q&a about which method is correct. They're all valid in sha Allah, I have one of the methods

that I do no problem. And I, you know, we may be in a lecture about fifth, which is not the q&a that I do, maybe we'll talk about these advanced opinions and who says what, but that's not what a person who is just learning to pray should do. And if you ask my advice to your sister, I would actually advise you to follow whatever your society does, because conformity in fick and in the med hubs to your society and your household, is the ease that the shady eye once you shouldn't bring something new, and bring something that is going to be considered controversial to your family members in your household if it is within the surely I want to talk to you about something how long No, this is not

how long if your family and the women of your family and even the men of your family are accustomed to see the woman pray in a particular manner then my advice to you is don't rock the boat and stick with the majority of the woman disregard and follow what your your parents and your society and culture has taught you and this will be best nonetheless, if a person insists and believes it is the sooner for the woman to pray just like the man that is your opinion and he had and you have all is your he had in choosing the opinions you're not qualified to make your stance that is your he had your reasoning in choosing a scholar, and that's between you and Allah azza wa jal and you're fine

for doing that, but do not consider the others to be invalid. And with that, inshallah Tada. We come to the end of today's q&a. I will see you next week at night dollar with Santa Monica rahmatullah wa barakato.

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