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Salaat of Women
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Question: |
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I know that during Sajda, the women are supposed to have
their fore arms including the elbow flat on the ground, according to the Hanafis.
Could you provide some hadith supporting this view and explain how this came
about. Could you also offer an explanation of how the admonition that keeping
elbows on the ground is like imitating a dog is pertaining to men. Jazakullah
Khair for your time. |
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Answer: |
Woman have been told to contract during the prostration. It
is related from Ali, Radi-Allahu anhu, that when a woman prostrates, she should
contract and join her thighs together (Musannaf ibn Abi Shayba, Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq).
Ibn 'Abbas, Radi-Allahu anhu, was asked about the prayer of a woman. He said,
"She should contract and come together" (Musannaf ibn Abi Shayba). It is related
from Hasan Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that a woman should contract in
prostration" (Musannaf ibn Abi Shayba). Likewise, Ibrahim Nakh'ay said, "When a
woman prostrates she should join her stomach to her thighs and not raise her
buttocks and she should not separate [her limbs] as men do. Imam Abu Dawud
relates in his Marasil from Yazid ibn Habib that the Messenger of Allah passed
by two woman who were praying. He said to them, "When you pray join part of your
body to the ground, for women are not like men in this regard. Imam Shafi'i
writes in Al-Umm "A man and woman in regards to remembrance and salat are the
same, except that I instruct that they be more concealing than men in ruku' and
prostration by joining their limbs together. A similar opinion has been related
from Imam Ahmad, and such is also the Hanafi opinion.
As far as the following hadith is concerned in which the Messenger of Allah
(PBUH) said, "Be reposeful in prostration and do not rest your forearms on the
ground as a dog does," (Bukhari, Muslim), this prohibition does not extend to
women since they have been instructed to contract in prostration, which includes
placing the arms on the ground. This is further supported by a version of this
narration in Sahih Muslim, which states that "the Messenger of Allah (PBUH)
prohibited that a man spread his forearms like a beast" -hence, excluding women
(see Radd al-muhtar 1:432).
And Allah knows best.
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