Answered by SunniPath Answer Service Team
I know that it is very important for men to pray in jamat. I was wondering if this is the same case with women. I know a lot of people who understandably support the idea that if there are more than one woman together then you should pray in jamat. But I have also heard that many women believe that it is disliked to pray in jamat. When I say jamat I don’t necessarily mean inside the masjid. I mean jamat at home just amongst women. If you could please give both Hanafi and Shafi’i positions.
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate
Wa Alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,
Please see the following links relating both the Hanafi and Shafi’i positions on women-only congregational prayers.
The Hanafi Position
From a previous question answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani:
As for praying in a congregation of women, the Hanafi position is that it is prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman), because it is not established from the practice of the female Companions except through a couple of narrations, which are understood either as being from the early period of Islam or done to teach others how to pray.
Women’s Congregational Prayer
Hanafi Woman Pray in a Women’s Only Congregation?
Questions on Women’s Prayer: Women’s Congregational Prayer, Raising the Voice When Alone, Giving Adhan and Iqama
Reading other sisters in congregation for instructional purposes
Women and Congregational Prayer
The Shafi’i Position
Is it sunna for women to pray in a women only congregation?
May Allah give you all success in this life and the next, amin.
Wassalam,
SunniPath Fiqh Team