posted
Can anyone help me. I have been reading about praying and getting very confused. It seems women pray in different position from men and prayers are different. Are there any good websites anyone can recommend? There is no mosque in my town and when i went to talk to the Imaan at the city mosque he said it would be better to go when the women are there at night but haven,t had chance to go yet.
Posts: 209 | From: UK | Registered: Feb 2007
| IP: Logged |
There isn't, as far as I know, any evidence that shows that the way women pray is any different from men, apart from the fact that women stand behind men to pray; they have to cover everything apart from their hands and face; and if they are praying together, the woman who is leading the prayer stands in the middle of the row rather than in front. I think these are the main differences off the top of my head.
The only time I have come across other differences is due to cultural interpretation, not based on evidence from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Some people will tell you that women put their arms in different places or keep their legs together when standing and men's feet have to touch the feet of those standing either side of them, but I have yet to see any evidence for this...when I ask why, people have just told me that it is more polite! But I have never heard that the actual prayers are different. The Prophet told us to pray as we see him pray, he didn't tell the women to watch his wives as they prayed differently!
posted
Not heard that one! Have a look at the link I gave you. Islamway is one of the better sites for information on things like praying and the other acts of worship and it shows the detail of how you should sit. Let me know if you need more than this and I will try to find a reliable source for you.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm glad i found this post because I read this too last night, here are the differences according to what i read last night:
'when saying 'Allahu Akbar' at the beginning 'women don't raise their arms higher than their shoulders and place arms on chest'
'when in bending position a woman should only bend so that her hands touch her knees, not rest on them. Elbows should touch the sides of the body and fingers kept together.'
'In sajdah the forearms should be touching the floor and the body appears much more closer together'
'At the end a woman sits with her feet to the right side, sitting on the floor, not her legs or left foot.'
This is the first time I have heard this, what do others think?
Source 'Ta'leemul Haq' Taj company, distributed by Islamic da'wah academy, leicester
Which says we should pray the same as men and that those saying we should pray differently comes from weak hadith...I'm gonna keep looking into this today Posts: 644 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
hi Audbod You sound so much like me, when I first started to pray - wanting to get everything perfect - like Mrs. Supermuslim ! Keep in mind, that God just wants you to pray, and don't sweat all the details, cuz you can get soooo involved with sweating all the details, that you lose sight of what the praying is supposed to be for - to build a relationship between you and God. There is a lot of cultural stuff that people will try to throw at you - not saying that everyone else's responses are that - just that it can happen. You would be surprised at what people will say to you. Remember once, I was praying with my hubby, had company over, and after we were done, this neice said that my prayers were all invalid - because I was not praying with my feet covered - that she got that info from some bigshot imam...lol Well, hubby and her got into it - let me tell ya !
I think that my biggest problem in praying was learning the arabic, and having it actually MEAN something to me, besides just bla bla bla. My best advice - learn the basics, and don't try to be all perfect. The rest will come with time.
Posts: 1103 | From: 6th of October | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I had a look at the link you posted and it says that the differences that you describe seem to be part of the Shafi'i madh-hab, based on the opinion of Shafi'i rather than any evidence from the Qur'an or Sunnah:
Question: Is there any prove from the Sunnah or ijtihad of the Sahaba that the praying (salat) of a woman is on some points different from the man, like it is in the Hanafi madhhab?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
The general principle is that women are equal to men in all religious rulings, because of the hadeeth "Women are the twin halves of men" (Reported by Imaam Ahmad and classified as saheeh in Saheeh al-Jaami’ 1983), except when there is evidence (daleel) of a specific ruling which applies only to women. One of the cases in which the scholars mention specific rules for women is prayer, where there are differences as follows:
* The woman should keep her limbs close to her body during rukoo’ and sujood, and not spread them out, because this is more modest and covering. (Al-Mughni 2/258). Al-Nawawi said: "Al-Shaafi’i said, in al-Mukhtasar: there is no difference between men and women in prayer, except that women should keep the parts of their bodies close to one another, and they should make their stomachs touch their thighs during sujood. This is more covering and preferable, in rukoo’ and the rest of the prayer too." (See al-Majmoo’ 3/429).
posted
Thanks Newcomer, interestingly that link says about covering of hands and feet as well, as jean_bean said.
So another one of those grey areas then depending on whether you follow strong or weak hadith or which scholar? is that right?
Posts: 644 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Jean Bean is right, don't make it SO difficult. Get used to the prayers first, this could take you a good while, everyone is so different! Once you get them down and can do them easily in your sleep then you can focus on the more specific points of praying. Allah knows your intentions and it isn't meant to be so difficult for you. Remember that as a convert even your mistakes are seen as beautiful because it doesn't come naturally for you and you are TRYING, it's really a wonderful thing. Best of luck!
Posts: 13440 | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Wanderer: So another one of those grey areas then depending on whether you follow strong or weak hadith or which scholar? is that right?
As most Muslims don't have the in depth knowledge or time to research and find the best interpretation of all the areas that haven't been ruled on specifically in the Qur'an and Sunnah, it has generally been recommended that they follow one of the madh-habs, unless they get evidence that something that they say contradicts the Qur'an and Sunnah, in which case they should follow what the Qur'an and Sunnah says.
That used to be easier when people would refer to scholars who had studied the different schools of thought in detail and could advise them accordingly. The difficulty with that nowadays is that with the internet, there is so much more information available to people and it is not neatly packaged and identified as to which school of thought the information comes from, much of it doesn't give any evidences for what it written, and nowadays anyone can set themselves up as an "authority", so unless you have some background knowledge, you can get very confused.
My suggestion would be to look around and try to check out some sources and see which ones give the clearest and soundest evidence for what they are saying. Then discuss them with people you trust to try to work out which ones actually give the soundest advice. And may Allah guide you to the best answer.
However, as a rule of thumb, it is never advisable to follow a weak hadith or take it as evidence for an action, unless it is supported by an authentic one or something written in the Qur'an.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
What about the pray-veil they are wearing when praying? cause I have seen an old sick Egyptian woman pray sitting on her bed without perfect veil to cover her body and hair while praying. One of her leg was on the bed and other was on the floor. When I asked her why she didn't cover her body perfectly in pray, I've got an answer that a Sheik said it's ok for her cause she's sick and prayed at home only.
If that's ok cause that's exceptional for her, can I give her a woman pray-veil as a gift? will she and her family not feel offended?
Posts: 756 | From: ...be solution... | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
Just came across this link that goes into a lot of detail about things people have said about the diferences of prayer for men and women, and summarizes at the end the differences according to the Hanafi madh-hab. Thought you might be interested: http://darulislam.info/Sections-article55-p1.htmlPosts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
As far as I know, all women should cover everything but their hands and face for prayer, although elderly women have been given the exemption under certain circumstances to remove their hijab, haven't understood that that also applies to during the prayer. Anyone else heard of that?
As to whether she would be offended if you gave her a prayer veil, that will depend on the lady herself, your relationship with her, and how you give it to her.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
The different postures, positions and rulings concerning the prayers of the female are not the invention of a group or an individual but teaching of the Prophet ( صلى الله عايه وسالم) himself. He was the very first person differentiate between the prayer of a man and a woman.
Yazid bin Abi Habib reports that the Prophet ( صلى الله عايه وسالم) passed by two women who were praying salah. He said, 'When you prostrate, let part of your body cling to the earth, for women are unlike men in this regard'.548
Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (رضئ الله عنه ) narrates that the Prophet ( صلى الله عايه وسالم) said, 'When a woman sits in salah she should place one thigh over the other, and when she prostrates she should press her stomach to her thighs in a manner that is the most concealing for her. Indeed Allah looks at her saying, "Oh my angels! I make you witness that I have forgiven her."549
and
All the above quite clearly demonstrates that the prayer of a woman is different in some aspects from that of a man, and that this distinction was first made by none other than the Prophet ( صلى الله عايه وسالم), and then maintained by the prominent Sahabah and Tabi'un. Furthermore, as can be seen in their works, there is almost universal agreement amongst the scholars of all schools of fiqh on this issue.
Posts: 644 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
But if you check on the references for those hadith, Wanderer, you will see that at least one of them has been delared to be Da'if (dhaeef) and Abu Dawood's Hadith aren't known to be the soundest:
548 Abu Dawood in his al Maraseel pl8 (Muassasah al Risalah edition), and Baiha 3201.
549 Baihaqi 3199. He also declared it dhaeef.
The reason I sent the link was so that you could see the Hanafi position, rather than to prove one position over another.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
In the basics, they all agree. As Sei told you on the other thread, the differences between the different schools are minor and only in the non-obligatory areas. And they are either based on different authentic reports of things that the Prophet did, so these are all acceptable, or they are based on weak hadith that the scholars of the schools didn't know about, and these should not be done.
That was why I mentioned to you earlier, that all the Imam's of the madh-habs said that if you find anything more authentic than what they said, in the Qur'an or the Sunnah, then you should take that instead of what they said, as that is the madh-hab of the Imams.
As to women's prayer being different, the differences are those that I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, in things like where they stand when praying with other women and with men, and they way they cover, and how they correct the person leading the prayer. But basically, the actual way that they pray is the same.
Posts: 4576 | From: Cairo | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
the women pray as the men with some exceptions 1.they should wear something that cover their whole body and cover their hair . 2.they should pray behind men if in mosque or in groups with men and women . 3.the way of putting their hands is a little different it should be a little up .
Posts: 52 | From: canada | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Have a look at the link I gave you. Islamway is one of the better sites for information on things like praying and the other acts of worship and it shows the detail of how you should sit. Let me know if you need more than this and I will try to find a reliable source for you.
Printer-friendly view of this topic