Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
As salaamu ‘alaykum,
At University the prayer rooms for the Brothers and Sisters are two seprate rooms. The Imam is heard and followed in jamaa’ by sister’s through the speakers. Last week, at Jumuah prayers the speakers stopped working after 1 rakah so the sisters couldn’t hear anything. Most sisters finsihed the last rakah themselves. Was this prayer valid and should we have just prayed Dhuhr instead?
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
If in a separate adjacent room, the condition for the validity of following the imam–for men and for women–is that one have a way of following the imam’s movements.
If something happens that makes one unable to follow the imam’s actions, the prayer is invalidated for such followers.
ref: Shurunbulali, Imdad al-Fattah.
And Allah alone gives success.
Faraz Rabbani