How to Perform Salah (For Women)

A WOMAN’S PERFORMING SALAT

It is written in Ni’mat-i Islam: 

“When beginning to perform salat, a woman raises both hands up to the level of her shoulders. 

While standing she puts her right hand on the left hand. But she does not grasp her left wrist with the fingers of her right hand. She puts her hands on her breast. 

While making ruku [1], her hands are placed on the knees, but she does not grasp them. She keeps her fingers closed together. She does not keep her legs straight, nor her back level.

While making sajda (prostration), she lowers herself, bringing her arms to her sides while she keeps her abdomen placed over her thighs. She sits on the buttocks, her legs inclined towards right. 

A woman cannot be an imam for men. It is makruh [2] for a woman to be an imam for other women. If they follow a man as imam, they should be in the last line of the jama’at (congregation).

If a woman is kissed (while performing salat), her salat will be nullified.

While performing salat in jama’at, if a woman stands beside or in front of a man, the man’s salat will be fasid (nullified). The man should signal to the woman to move behind. If she does not do as she is beckoned, in that case, only the woman’s salat will become fasid (invalid).

In case of a baby crying or of food boiling over the fire, leaving the salat is permissible for a woman.

A woman does not strecth her hands forward while making dua (suplication), but she keeps them inclined towards her face.

[1] ruku: bowing during the prayer of namaz.
[2] makruh: (act, thing) improper, disliked and abstained by the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam); makruh tahrima: prohibited with much stress.

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- How should women dress when performing namâz at home?
- What are the differences between the namâzes of men and those of women?

How should women dress when performing namâz at home?

Question: When performing namâz, how should women dress? At home, is it appropriate to perform namâz wearing pyjamas?
ANSWER: It is makrûh to perform namâz wearing clothes that you work in or that you could not wear if you were to see your superiors or wearing bad smelling clothes and socks. Yet it is not makrûh if you have no other clothes. If you have enough money, you should buy extra clothes.

A person who appears before notables should wear smart and clean clothes. When standing in the presence of Allahu ta’âlâ, you should take much more care with this and should not perform namâz with clothes that cannot be worn near superior ones. It is purported in the Qur’ân al-karîm: “When performing each namâz, wear your adorned [clean, favorite] clothes” [Sûrat-ul-A’râf 31].

It is reported in a hadîth-i sharîf as well:
(When performing namâz, wear your best clothes. Allahu ta’âlâ is the One who is the most worthy of your ornamenting yourself for.) [Bayhaqî]

For men!!!>>> when performing namâz at home, it is not makrûh to perform it wearing pyjamas or any other clothing that you wear when going to bed. Yet you must not come to the mosque wearing pyjamas! Similarly, it is not proper to sit with pyjamas near people with whom you are not intimately acquainted. In brief, you must not display deeds that call for condemnation and that are contrary to our customs. 


For women!!!>>> All parts of free women, except their palms and faces, including their wrists, outer parts of their hands, hanging parts of their hair and under their feet are awrat (and therefore they must be covered) during a namâz, according to the Hanafî Madhhab. There are also quite a number of valuable books saying that outer parts of hands are not awrat. According to them, it is permissible for women to performnamâz while outer parts of their hands up to wrists are bare. However, it is better for women to perform namâz wearing a gown with sleeves long enough, or a head cover large enough, to cover their hands, and thereby to pursue a course of action compatible with all the written sources. There are savants who said that women’s feet were not awrat in namâz, but those same savants said that it was sunnat to cover and makrûh to open them when performing namâz. [It is written in the book Kâdihân that hanging parts of hair are like feet]. If one-fourth of a man’s or woman’s awrat part remains bare as long as onerukn, the namâz becomes annulled. If a smaller part remains exposed, the namâz does not become nullified, but it becomes makrûh. For instance, the namâz of a woman one-fourth of whose foot has remained bare will not be sahîh. If she herself uncovers it, her namâz becomes annulled immediately. It is written in Umdat-ul-Islâm, “A woman’s namâz which she performed with bare heelbone, ankle, neck, or hair is not sahîh. Thin tissue that lets the shape or color of the thing under it be seen is equal to none.” In the Shâfi’î Madhhab, a woman’s whole body, other than her two hands and her face, is always awrat. Please click here to read Satr-i awrat issue.

The best hijab style when performing salat:

Question: Is it an inconvenience to perform namâz with clothes on which there is a picture or a piece of writing?

ANSWER

If the picture or the writing is seen, the namâz becomes makrûh. If it is covered, then it does not become makrûh.