Women could lead men in prayers only in family settings and household prayer areas. This was Dr. Jasser’s conclusion in this section of “Reclaiming the Mosque”. It is not true that women can not lead men in prayers under any circumstances, as many scholars claimed. He quoted a number of notable scholars who disagreed based on the Hadith of Um Waraka, such as Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Abu Dawud, Al-Hakim , Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-San’ani, etc. The contradictory narrations that scholars cited are non-authentic and / or copied from the Jewish scripts rather than uttered by the Prophet (s) himself.
“Men’s Entrance” is another bid’ah (innovation in the religion) that became an integral part of the design of mosques, despite the fact that it existed nowhere in the tradition of the Prophet (s) or any of his companions after him. Only “Women’s Entrance” existed, and for particular reasons … Another excerpt from Jasser’s latest book, Reclaiming the Mosque: The Role of Women in Islam’s House of Worship.
