Mosques With Closed Doors

A couple of months ago I decided to take my toddler to attend Friday prayers at an Islamic centre. Unfortunately, we received looks of annoyance and comments as we entered the prayer room and sat down. Furthermore, my toddler’s crying as I attempted to pray was not well received. To add salt to the wound when another child was crying, a man on the brother’s side thought he had the authority to address the mother in the microphone and say ‘Take the baby out of the centre’. Simply put, mothers and children were not welcome and I left the centre without finishing my prayer.

So, a couple of weeks ago I decided to try out a different centre’s Friday prayers, perhaps this community was different. This time as I sat down my toddler who was fascinated by the scene of prayer mats and chadors started repeatedly saying ‘Allah, Allah’ but a number of ladies gave us stern looks because of the noise she was making so as this room was bigger I moved to the end of the room where I wouldn’t be part of the congregation but at least I could listen to the lecture. One lady came to pray next to us and after several stern looks in my direction she had a full fledged argument with a child who was quietly playing nearby telling him he was distracting her from her prayers and he was encouraging my daughter to move around. Again we did not feel welcome. Both these centres are in the UK and unfortunately these experiences of mine are not unique. Many mothers speak of how members of the congregation make them feel unwelcome in centres here, in a community that calls itself progressive.

In contrast, when I went to Iraq a few months ago I was amazed at how my daughter and I were welcomed in the holy shrines of the Ahlulbayt, which are in fact sacred mosques and not mere centres. Everyone I met there, Iraqi, Iranian, Khoja, Pakistani welcomed my daughter with open arms. During the congregational prayer the whole row I was in would look out for my daughter and pull her back so she wouldn’t go far while we were all praying. We could sit in the shrine for hours and not hear a single complaint. I would take my daughter with me to the actual shrine inside where the grave is found and pray and read, the only things I would receive from others were abundant smiles and sweets. I felt welcome. I had the opportunity to worship without human prejudice.

Our Prophet (pbuh) loved children and he welcomed them into his mosque and showed love and mercy towards them whilst he was praying. The story of Imam Hassan and Hussain (as) climbing on the Prophets back while he was praying is one we must put in to practice. He prolonged his prostration in his prayer just so they could enjoy playing on his back. Children are full of love, joy and they give one immense pleasure. If you look closely, children will show you signs of the Creator, their innocence, their marvel at life and the way they act. They should not be treated as an annoyance or a problem. They and their parents should not be shunned from the centres but must be welcomed.

The Prophet’s mosque in Medina was built to welcome the community of Muslims in to it. People used to go there to pray, to learn, to meet and to build a community. Men, women and children were welcome. What is more powerful than the words of Allah (swt):

[2:114] And who is more unjust than he who prevents (people) from the mosques of Allah, that His name should be remembered in them, and strives to ruin them? (As for) these, it was not proper for them that they should have entered them except in fear; they shall meet with disgrace in this world, and they shall have great chastisement in the hereafter.

Our duty as Muslims is to share our religion, to invite everyone to our faith, to welcome everyone in our centres so that Allah’s message may be heard by all. We cannot bring our children when they are teenagers and tell them that they must attend Islamic programmes now if they have not been nurtured in that environment, they may well protest attending. We must nurture our children in the mosque environment. If mothers continue to be alienated this way then an entire generation will be alienated, the most important generation – our children – the next generation.

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Cambridge Eco Mosque: Eco-friendly mosque opens in Europe

There was a time when Muslim women in India not only prayed in mosques, they even built them

Almost 800 years to this day, Delhi Sultanate ruler Razia Sultan carved out a piece of history. In fact, two. The first was, obviously, being elevated to the throne in the early 13th century and becoming thereby the first woman to rule over Delhi.

The favoured daughter of Iltutmish, Razia rose to the throne ahead of half-brother Muiz ud-din Bahram. At that time also the ulema initially opposed her candidature. She was sincere, wise, adept at administration and capable of leading the Sultanate in a war. The only handicap she faced, according to them, was her gender.

However, as she enjoyed the confidence of her father Iltutmish, she defied the odds to claim the throne. The other feat was notched up with her ascension itself. In the run up to assuming control of the Sultanate, she went to Quwwatul Islam Masjid in Mehrauli, said to be the first mosque of North India. She did so on a Friday when the mosque would have maximum worshippers; and sought the support of the devout for her claim to the throne.

Importantly, she did not call herself Sultana, the feminine of Sultan. She referred to herself as the Sultan. With her address at the Quwwatul Islam Masjid, Razia not only blazed a trail for other women to go to masjid but also to build masjids. The khutbah too was read in her name, the first time ever in India’s recorded history.
She used to travel without a veil and used to ride horses and elephants. It is believed that she used to go to mosques and madrasas. Her patronage of khanqahs and madrasas is well known, especially the one that was associated with Minhaj Siraj Juzjani, the author of Tabaqat-e-Nasiri. He was considered a Sheikh-ul Islam under Razia Sultan.

Muslim women had things pretty good in medieval times. Politically, they were taken into confidence by the emperors who consulted them at every stage. The stories of Noor Jahan, who wielded great control over the Mughal king Jahangir, are also well known to need reiteration. The founder of the Mughal dynasty Zahiruddin Babur too is said to have consulted his women, his mother, his wives and daughters, before venturing out for a battle.

In Delhi, we have the 16th century Khairul Manazil Masjid built by Maham Anga, the foster mother of the greatest Mughal ruler Jalaluddin Akbar. The Khairul Manazil Masjid, built in 1561 by Anga, is said to be the first mosque in Delhi to be commissioned by a woman, the same woman who was virtually the ruler of the empire in the early years of Akbar, as the Mughal scion was too young to fulfil the responsibilities of an emperor.
Though there is little historical evidence to prove if Anga herself came to attend the prayer sessions here, what is proven beyond doubt is that she was instrumental in the construction of the mosque. Incidentally, many Mughal princesses after her undertook the construction of mosques as an act of piety without necessarily visiting the mosques for daily prayers.

In the case of Khairul Manazil, Anga hired the services of her trusted relative Shahabuddin Ahmad Khan, who was also a minister of the empire. The mosque’s central arch has an inscription that clearly reveals that the mosque was built by Maham Anga. The mosque had a madrasa attached to it, probably funded by Anga herself for Islamic education of children.

At around the same time, and also during the age of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, we have Mughal miniatures showing them riding horses and moving around without a veil. Often they dictated their nikahnamas and incorporated conditions like monogamy, no instant triple talaq, or investing in themselves the right to divorce through Talaq-e-tafweez.

They continued to build mosques, madrasas and sarais. According to some historians, they also graced the mosques, at least on special occasions like Eid, or when a new emperor took the reins of the empire, and had the khutbah read under his name as a sign of legitimacy.

Though there is little documentary evidence, it is fair to believe they offered prayers in the mosques if one looks at the architecture of the Sultanate and the Mughal period closely.
For instance, there is a Tughlaq era mosque in Wazirabad in Delhi. The mosque has an elevated chamber shielded by lattice walls. There are some historians who believe it was meant for the kings. However, as the kings usually entered from the main gate, called the Shahi Darwaza, it is fair to believe it was meant for the royal women who entered and departed from such a gate after offering their prayers at the mosque.


Most historians believe that in the Wazirabad Masjid, the place behind the lattice walls was reserved for women worshippers. Men prayed in the main hall and women in their own specified section, behind the lattice walls.

Similarly, if you go to Bengal, there in Hazrat-e-Pandua we have Adina Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India. Hailing from the 15th century, it is a much bigger mosque than Quwwatul Islam Masjid. The prayer chamber here is elevated with a lattice wall and a raised mihrab, a semi-circular niche.

Many mosques in medieval India can be said to have been graced by royal women, and even those from the families of nobles. There is no single piece of historical evidence to show that women were prohibited from going to the mosques, and there is no record of ulema issuing a fatwa against the entry of women into mosques.

Not just mosques, women went to Sufi khanqahs and dargahs too, and are said to have participated with great zest in singing Sufiana Kalam. From the early 13th century when Qutubuddin Aibak laid the foundation of the Mamluk dynasty to the time of the latter Mughals in the 18th and 19th centuries, women were consistent in their patronage of khanqahs.
As most dargahs and khanqahs had mosques attached to them, it is fair to conclude that women would enter them as the Sufis did not express any rigidity. For instance, Nizamuddin Auliya held out for musical gatherings or samaa, and was able to convince the Sultanate rulers too of the same, despite stiff opposition from the Hanafi scholars of the age who believed music to be haram (prohibited) in Islam.

Inside the mosques, we find no clear markers prohibiting the entry of women beyond a certain stage.
It all began to change with the decline of the Mughals and the coming of the British. As conservatism was the order of the day, women began to be excluded from both mosques and cemeteries. They were not allowed to enter the mosques for spiritual elevation. They were denied the right to offer prayers at the grave of their near and dears ones in the cemetery.

All along, women continued to go for hajj. In medieval as also modern times, women were never denied the right to go on hajj where, like men and women from other countries, they established prayers in both Makkah and Medina, where they went to the last resting place of the wives of the Prophet as also his companions. Yet, when they came back home, a different kind of Islam ruled their lives.

Call it the impact of the local culture, but this Indianised form of Islam meant women could build mosques or take part in financing them, but could not offer regular prayers inside them. Today, women cannot go for prayers to the mosques that their fellow women built hundreds of years ago.

The most conspicuous case being of the famous Fatehpuri Masjid in Old Delhi, where the local residents cannot recall any occasion when women gathered to offer prayer in a group, or the Taj-ul-Masajid in Bhopal. It is the largest mosque in India, but it has not been able to spare a room or hall for women. The biases are more pronounced today than at any time in the Islamic history in India.

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Women and the Mosque: Hadith

"A wife of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb used to go to the mosque for the prayers of fajr and ʿishāʾ. It was said to her, "Why do you go out when you know that ʿUmar does not like it, and he feels jealous?" She said, "So what stops him from forbidding me?" It was said to her, "What stops him are the words of the Prophet (ﷺ) 'Do not stop women servants of God from the mosques of God.'"

[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī]

Men-only mosques invalidate jumma prayers

By Yvonne Ridley

I thought that headline would grab your attention! First and foremost no one’s just made me a mufti and I’m not an Islamic scholar so after reading this I urge you to go out and seek corroboration and knowledge from men and women who truly know and love their Islam.

Secondly I would ask you to check out the committees of those mosques where women are forbidden from entering. I bet the decision taking is made by men and that those men have their roots in countries which were once colonised by the British. There’s a thesis in there somewhere but let’s focus on the issue of men-only mosques for today.

The thorny subject was brought to my attention by Egyptian scholar Sheikh Fadel Soliman who I first encountered in New York and then in Cairo when I was brand new to Islam. He introduced me to the then Grand Imam Sheikh Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi, the Rector of the famous Al Azhar University in Cairo, and the leading cleric in Sunni Islam worldwide.

At our meeting Sheikh Tantawi went to shake my hand and I drew back amid a few gasps from those in our immediate circle. I was still wrestling with the notion of shaking hands of the opposite sex when, astonishingly, the late sheikh accused me of extremism as I refused his hand. Sheikh Fadel interjected and corrected the man widely considered to be head of the Arab sunni world, again more raised eyebrows but he diffused a tense situation.

Ever since then we’ve become great friends and he is someone I’ve relied upon over the years when faced with challenging dilemmas and questions about Islam simply because he has shown himself to be a man who speaks without fear or favour. It’s no use consulting a sheikh who will tell you simply what you want to hear.

The ‘handshake’ thing has troubled me on and off for many years but I’ll return to it another time. I want to focus on the far more pressing phenomenon which is men-only mosques. It is something which troubled me within days of embracing Islam and is virtually unheard of in the Arab world although common in parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.

When I lived in London my nearest place of prayer was the Islamic Centre in Soho. On arrival I was told I could not enter. I created a fuss and the imam at the time (it was around 2003) said the same thing. As I was kept at the door I told him at I knew he was wrong and I would go away, seek knowledge and return to challenge him again. I told him that there was no such thing in Islam as a men-only mosque and I was sure of this – as a feminist and a lifelong supporter of women’s rights there’s no way I’d embrace a faith which sidelines one gen

Now, more than 15 years on, I stand by my insistence that there’s simply no such thing as a men-only mosque and there never has been. It is a concept born out of misogyny and while some of you may wave your hands dismissively and accuse me of being on a feminist trip, stop right there. The truth is your jumma prayers are invalid if you pray in a building where Muslim women are barred. Don’t take my word for it – ask a scholar free of constraints and not someone from the oil-rich schools of scholars for dollars.

Egyptian-born Sheikh Fadel Soliman from The Bridges Foundation, who has a Master’s degree in Shariah, has been investigating the subject for some time. The problem was also resurrected by another friend of mine Imam Ajmal Masroor whose wife and daughter were refused entry to a London mosque quite recently.

Both these men stand up fearlessly for women’s rights in Islam and as I say, I’m proud to count them among my brotherly friends. “Men-only mosques are a bidah as they violate a clear instruction by the Prophet (pbuh) ‘Dont you ever prevent the female servants of Allah from attending mosques’. He forbade us from making a single gender mosque,” says Sheikh Fadel.

He also sought clarification from another hugely respected authority Sheikh Muhammad al-Hassan Walid al-Dido al-Shanqītī who runs a respected educational centre in Mauritania. Not only did the sheikh agree he went further and declared places where women are barred from worship as not even mosques! “The condition for any place to be considered a mosque is that no one can be disallowed to enter and prayer freely. So, if people set out to make a mosque for one type of people only say, for doctors, or rich people, or white, or black, it is not a mosque. Call it whatever you want; it’s not a mosque,” explained Shk Soliman.

And so what of these men-only mosques and their status in Islam? “The jummah is invalid” declares Shk Soliman. This is huge news, it’s seismic when you consider in the UK around a third of the mosques are men-only! It’s something the Muslim Council of Britain, once sinking in a swamp of its own misogyny, is trying to grapple with today as it finally realises we women are half the Ummah and we gave birth to the other half!

The solution is simple. Lift the ban and then set about turning mosque committees into areas where the decision makers and takers are split only by gender. Let’s end the days of men-only mosque committees which serve no one especially the community and consign to history those fake mosques where women are banned.

It is a message I gave in South Africa recently which was welcomed by many of the women I met in Johannesburg and Durban but sadly not all of the men were as enthusiastic. Goodness knows why since there’s not a Muslim man alive who would challenge the word of God and yet, the Qur’an makes it clear mosques are houses of worship for all.

The view on gender discriminating mosques is also condemned at length here by Imam Ajmal Masroor who asks and answers three questions quite simply: “Can a place be called a mosque if it bans prayers? No! Can a place be called a mosque if it was women only mosque? No! Can a place be called a mosque if it was men only mosque? No!”

As I say, don’t take my word for it but if you pray in a place where women are banned then I’d be seriously concerned. If your jumma prayers are invalid then how do you get back all those lost years? I don’t know the answer but if I was a man praying in a men-only mosque I’d be very concerned.

There are three floors in which to worship at the Soho Islamic Centre, surely one can be set aside for women? Next time I go I will demand my right as a Muslim and now I have the knowledge to stand up to the misogynists who should take heed.

And while I’m on with it, for those mosques where women are accommodated ask yourself this: Can we do better? I am sick and tired of going to mosques where the sisters’ rooms are dark, damp, grubby and unclean. This is a terrible advert for Islam. I’m not going to name and shame the mosques and prayer rooms here – their committee members know fine well what I am talking about!

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Side Entrance: Why Mosques Are Still Getting It Wrong

Do some people not like it? Every once in a while someone new will come and say this is haram. But you know what? This is closest to the Sunnah. Oh people are not as at the time of the Prophet ﷺ. Really? From my understanding, men used to go to the back rows at the time of the Prophet ﷺ and try to see the women through their legs when in prostration. That is when the Prophet ﷺ said that the best lines for men are at the front and the best lines for women are at the back. He didn’t say to build a wall or stick the women on another floor. The Quran says to lower your gaze and guard your modesty. Lower your gaze is stated first. You are responsible for your own actions. These are principles taught 1400+ years ago but which we have been practicing since, Insha Allah.

Are people uncomfortable with this? Of course there are women who are uncomfortable praying in there same room as men as it is foreign to them, so in order to make everyone comfortable and not infringe on the rights of any of the women, when we expanded the sisters area we expanded sideways in order to create a space with more privacy for those sisters who do not want to be in the same visible space as the men but still keeping the structure of the main prayer hall. Note, it wasn’t done in response to the men who complained. A mere bookshelf separates the area so there is free flow from the private part to the main sisters area. That is their preference and everyone is free to worship in the main area or in the more private areas, which is also very useful if nursing

Full article

Respecting Our Sisters

REFLECTIONS ON WOMEN’S SPACE IN MOSQUES

 This is just unacceptable.

 

It was early in the day, before dhur prayer. There was no prayer going on, but the imam was giving a lecture. There were maybe around 60 men in the main space, meaning it was mostly empty. I joined the few women who prayed in the back of the main hall, behind the small wooden rails where women usually pray. After a few minutes a man came and shooed at us, telling us to go upstairs. I ignored him the first time, then gave in on the third shooing and went up.

The stairs were narrow, cramped, steep, and circular. Treacherous really. I went up and there were about ten women on the balcony area. I started praying, asking God’s mercy and blessings for my family, friends, for Adnan’s hearing, for the health of loved ones, etc etc. Then I looked over and saw a woman emerge out of the stairway door. Except she wasn’t standing up. She was crawling.

She was the first of a number of very elderly women who crawled up those awful stairs on their hands and knees. One of them dragged her cane with her. They would get to the top, then have to be helped to stand up and wobble over to a place on the carpet to pray.

That pretty much broke me. I can’t remember the last time I wept, really wept. I had already been shooed away from a number of mosque doors that were the domain of men only, but this really broke me. What has happened to our men? Where is the mercy and compassion of our Prophet (saw)? How many would send their own elderly mothers up such stairs to sit away from…from what? From prayer?

 Full article 

Women attending the Masjid

 

The Masjid is known as the ‘house of Allah’ as it symbolises the place where God is worshipped. This is the place of devotion and proclamation of his Greatness and Majesty. Although the Prophet (peace be upon him) declared that ‘the entire earth has been made a masjid for me’, in other words we can pray anywhere. However, the Masjid has a special place in Muslim society. This spot of land designated as the Masjid is “the best place on earth” (prophetic tradition).

“The person who visits the Masjid is God’s guest and divine hospitality is forgiveness” said the Prophet (peace be upon him). The one who prays in congregation in the Masjid gets his reward multiplied twenty seven times (Hadith). “Whoever waits in the Masjid for the next prayer is protected as he is in a Ribat (fortress) which gives protection from the attacks of the devil and ones ego” (Hadith). The serene, quiet and simple environment of the Masjid lifts the spirit, which helps the worshipper to focus and get absorbed in divine thoughts.

Scholars have likened the Masjid to a ‘magnifying glass’ since it focuses the sun rays onto a single spot, similarly the rays of Divine Mercy are focused in the Masjid on the worshipper. The Masjid is the house of Allah, the best place on earth and it is a fortress. Whoever visits the Masjid is indeed Allah’s guest, graced with Divine hospitality; he is honoured as a true believer. It is the place for enriching one’s spirituality and building social relations. Is this exclusively for men? Is it a men’s club? Do women have no share in this wonderful spiritual place?

In this article I present Hadith evidence to show that women have full right to attend the Masjid. The merciful Master (peace be upon him) did not make it compulsory for them to visit the Masjid but as we will see he kept telling men not to stop them. Here I will not comment on why some later ‘jurists’ banned women from the Masjid. I will confine myself to some of the Ahadith narrated by Imam Bukhari and Ibn Hajar’s (d. 761 AH) commentary.

The virtues of attending the Masjid

Abu Huraira narrates the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) as saying, “Shall I not tell you about that which will obliterate your mistakes and bring your near to Allah?” They replied, “ Yes! Surely O Messenger.” He said, “it is to perform the ablution properly in difficult circumstances. A lot of foot steps to the Masjid and waiting for the next prayer after performing one that is the Ribat. That indeed is Ribat” (Muslim).

In the Muslim community the Masjid is the centre of Islamic activities. It is a place of worship and learning, a place for meditation, devotion, service and remembrance of Allah. In the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) it even had the role of the supreme court where the Chief Justice (peace be upon him) would issue his legal injunctions. It was also the military headquarters where the Messenger (peace be upon him) would plan the Jihad against the forces of unbelief. This Hadith directs us to the Masjid in order to have our minor sins erased and spiritual station raised, the Prophet (peace be upon him) orders us to do the wudu properly too. “The wudu is the key to the prayer and the prayer is the key to the heavens” (Hadith).

This state of physical purification is a prerequisite for a state of spiritual purification. After offering his devotion and humble prayer he sits in the Masjid waiting for the next prayer, this is spiritual vigilance, in Allah’s house absorbed in His thought. He is far from the temptations of the devil, the whispers of the uncouthed self and the lures of the glittering world. “This is Ribat, indeed the Ribat”, says the Prophet (peace be upon him). Ribat is the fort from where the soldiers use to keep a watch. The blessed Messenger (peace be upon him) equates this Ribat to the sitting in the Masjid waiting for the next prayer.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is recommending a perfect method for self-purification and defining the limits of Islamic asceticism, i.e. solitude and austerity. Not to abandon life, home, family and friends but to live amongst them, yet find time for solitude and communion with Allah. The one who attends the Masjid regularly has been praised by the Mustafa (peace be upon him) in these words:

“Whoever you see coming and going to and from the Masjid, you must give testimony of his faith being complete”. He then recited, “surely the one who builds the masjid is the one who has faith in Allah, the hereafter and fears no one except Him. They are the one who are rightly guided” (Tirmidhi).

In another tradition narrated by Abu Haraira he (peace be upon him) says: “Whoever attends the Masjid, Allah prepares a special hospitality for him” (Muslim).

Praying with the Congregation

Abu Darda says he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying, “When there are three people in a village or in the desert and they do not pray as a group the devil takes control of them. You must be with the group. Surely the wolf attacks the sheep that is alone and separate from the flock” (Abu Dawud).

We have already read that the prayer is one of the most important qualities of the believer. It is the flavour of faith, the food of the soul and gives peace of mind. It is a personal devotion but should be offered in a congregation. This Hadith is emphasising this group aspect of the prayer.

How valuable it is to offer the prayer in congregation is explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he said, “the group prayer is twenty seven times superior than the individual prayer” (Muslim).

The Hadith under discussion instructs that even when there are only three people they should pray together as a group rather than pray separately. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then gives the similitude of the lone sheep cut off from the flock. The devil who is depicted here as the wolf attacks the lone wanderers, those who are not with the Muslim community or those who live only at its peripheries not taking active part in its affairs.

The congregational prayer has many benefits such as; fostering love and compassion for fellow Muslims, thus strengthening the bonds of brotherhood, equality, since everyone stands humbly together whether he is a pauper or wealthy, big or small. Prayer gives training in being punctual and regular in ones daily affairs. Congregational prayer is one of outstanding features of Islam, the row upon row of believers standing humbly, bowing in unison and then prostrating together, it is a moving experience for any onlooker. The congregational prayer also teaches obedience to a leader (Imam) and gives the sense of belonging to the community.

From Bukhari and Ibn Hajar

Chapter 162- Women going to the Masjids at night and darkness

Abdullah ibn Umar narrates the messenger (peace be upon him) said ”When your women seek your permission to attend the Masjid at night then give them permission” (Hadith no. 865).

Ibn Hajar Asqalani (d.761 AH) is perhaps one of the greatest commentators of Bukhari. Here is a summary of his commentary on this topic:

1. The permission to attend the Masjid hints to the fact that it is not compulsory, since if it was there would be no need to seek husbands permission.

2. He quotes another Hadith from Muslim. Abdullah ibn Umar narrates the Messenger (peace be upon him) said “don’t stop women from getting their share of the Masjid when they seek your permission”. Bilal (his son) said “By God we certainly will stop them”. According to Tabarani Bilal said “I will not let my wife and whoever wishes can let his wife do as she likes”.

3. According to the narration in Muslim, when Bilal said this to his father Abdullah ibn Umar, he was furious at him, he turned to him and cursed him three times and thereafter never spoke to his son until he died.

4. Ibn Hajar comments on this “father and son fight” by saying that “Bilal saw mischief in some women of his time and that made him react in that way to protect his sense of honour and self respect and Abdullah disapproved because he was clearly opposing the Prophetic tradition”.

Chapter 164- Women’s prayer standing behind men

Umm Salma said “when the Prophet (peace be upon him) finished his prayer by saying salaam the women would get up and leave. He would stay for a while in his place. This was done so that women could leave before the men could see them”.

Anas said, “The Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed in Umm Sulaim’s house, I and an orphan stood behind him and Umm Sulaim behind us” (Hadith no.874).

Chapter 165- The quick departure of women after Morning Prayer and their short stay in the Masjid

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said “the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pray morning prayer in darkness, Muslim women used to come and go without being recognised in the dark” (Hadith no. 872).

Abdullah Ibn Umar said ”There was a woman who used to attend the Morning and night prayer with the congregation in the Masjid. It was said to her why do you come yet you know that Umar does not like that. She said he has not stopped me! She said the Prophet (peace be upon him) said “Don’t stop God’s maids from attending the Masjids” (Hadith no. 900).

Commenting on these two Ahadith Ibn Hajar says “if women are permitted to attend Masjids at night despite that night is time of suspicion, the permission during daytime is even foremost”.

Source

CONTEXT of the "Women Pray at Home" Hadith - Nouman Ali Khan