Answered by Wajihah Gregor
I am a male student at a college in the USA. The nearest masjid is 25-30 minutes away by car. A group of brothers started walking to a centrally located dorm on campus to pray Fajr in the morning in congregation. This year, sisters also are walking to the dorm (or those who live in that dorm are coming downstairs) to pray in the Fajr prayer.
After
the prayer we do dhikr for maybe 15 minutes and by the time we walk or drive back to our rooms the sun has risen (so we could pray the Duha prayer?).
When we do dhikr (remembrance of Allah) the brothers recite loudly while the sisters read it quietly to themselves. My questions are:
1. Do the sisters receive any type of reward for coming downstairs or walking across campus to this congregational Fajr prayer? Or is it disliked?
2. Do they receive special reward for praying in the congregational Fajr prayer with the brothers?
3. Do they get reward for reading the dhikr to themselves as the brothers recite the Quranic chapters or supplications in the same room?
In The Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah bless the congregation you all have established and may He accept this effort from you all.
The principle we have learned from our teachers for negotiating questions concerning affairs to do with Muslim women in this difficult age is:
that a woman who is improving her Islamic practice should not be dealt with harshly so that she is pushed away and a woman who practices at a more refined level should not be encouraged to come down from this level.
In the light of this principle we cannot discourage sisters from attending the congregation you mentioned provided that no tempting behavior exists between the genders (including brothers looking at sisters’ faces) and the sisters are physically safe in their going and coming.
Praying in the congregation is sunnah for women, as it is for men.
What is encouraged in our practice of the religion is what propels us closer to the worship of Allah Almighty with utmost sincerity and wholeheartedness.
We are aware from the narrations of our Beloved Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, that there is a unique spiritual blessing and benefit for women to worship Allah Almighty in the most private sphere of their homes. Perhaps this is because of their unique virtues and sensitive natures which allows them to enter deeply profound worship of Allah in the most sincere environment (i.e. where no one can see them but Allah Most High).
In our school, sisters may lead other sisters in the obligatory prayer. For this reason, it does seem advantageous for them to establish their own all-women congregation. Through this they can encourage one another to memorize more Qur’an for the purposes of leading the prayer. Perhaps after each prayer they may choose to read the translation of the Surah they read in the prayer.
Following the morning prayer, they may recite group dhikr together out loud thus further articulating their love and esteem for Allah Almighty. Why should they merely follow the men when they can lead themselves in perfect obedience to Allah, together deepening the bond of sisterhood?
However, if the sisters choose to remain part of the male’s congregation, and there is separation between them, they would be rewarded for the invocations they recite silently to themselves. And once the sun has risen sufficiently praying the Duha prayer is a great spiritual work.
And Allah Knows Best.