Fatwa ID: 07153

Answered by: Maulana Burhaan Rahman

Question:

As a Hanafi, I grew up reading Sajdah in the closed way, different to men. I did not really understand where exactly the positions came from just that a women’s Salaah should be modest. I follow a few islamic pages on Instagram and they appear to be of other madhabs shafi etc. and constantly criticise the way we read Salaah attributing our reasons to fabricated hadith and being against the sunnat. I always think that this person does not even come close to the level of knowledge as Imaan Abu Hanifa (RA) but because of the plethora of these posts, I find myself asking where exactly did our way of Salaah come from? In my ignorance, my question is, what was Imam Abu Hanifa’s reasoning for us females praying differently, where is the proof of the different positions that we make etc.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

In the Hanafi madhab, men are to pray different to women. When a woman prostrates, she must do so differently from a male (especially when other possible suitors are nearby), as in the Haramain, an open place, etc.

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَرَّ عَلَى امْرَأَتَيْنِ تُصَلِّيَانِ فَقَالَ: إِذَا سَجَدْتُمَا فَضُمَّا بَعْضَ اللَّحْمِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ فَإِنَّ الْمَرْأَةَ لَيْسَتْ فِي ذَلِكَ كَالرَّجُلِ

When the Prophet (SAW) passed by two women who were praying, he remarked to them, “When you make prostration (sajdah), you should bring your body together with the ground because a woman is not like a man in it” (i.e. her posture for sajdah). [Bayhaqi Sunan Al kubraa Hadeeth no: 3201]

Only Allah (عز و جل) knows best.

Written by Maulana Burhaan Rahman

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham