Date : 08-07-2014

Question :

Is it permissible for a husband to prevent his wife from offering Taraweeh (the night prayer during the month of Ramadhaan), or Friday prayer in the mosque ?


The Answer :

All praise be to Allah, peace and blessings be upon Prophet Mohammad,



We recommend that the husband allows his wife to pray in the mosque, and share this great act of worship with other Muslims since Kushoo (submission and surrender to Allah during prayer) is more likely to be established in the mosque; especially, when she says amen to the supplications of the Imam, and listens to the recitation of The Holy Quran throughout the sacred month of Ramadan.



Ibn Umar narrated: ”One of the wives of Umar (Bin Al-Khattab) used to offer the Fajr and the 'Isha' prayer in congregation in the Mosque. She was asked why she had come out for the prayer as she knew that Umar disliked it, and he has great ghaira (self-respect). She replied: "What prevents him from stopping me from this act?" The other replied: "The statement of Allah's Apostle (PBUH) : "Do not stop Allah's women-slave from going to Allah s Mosques' prevents him." {Bukhari&muslim}.



Ibn Omar also reported that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “ Allow women to offer night prayers in the mosques “ If the husband insisted on preventing his wife from offering Taraweeh prayer in the mosque, it is incumbent on her to obey him, and this takes precedence over obtaining the virtue of praying in congregation.



In [Al-Majjm`ou'] by Al-Nawawi : “It is desirable for a husband to grant his wife the permission to go to the mosque if she had asked him for that, but if he prevented her, then it isn`t unlawful since this is our Madhab (school of thought), and it is the preponderant opinion amongst the Muslim scholars.”



The Hadith: “'Do not stop Allah's women-slave from going to Allah` s Mosques.” - means that it is disliked since the obedience of the husband is mandatory.



For further details in this regard, kindly review Fatwa No (914).