Question: The Hanafis make a distinction between the method of prayer for men and women. What is its legal status?
Answer: The manner and form of prayer that the Prophet ﷺ described can be performed by men and women alike, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
صَلُّوْا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُوْنِيْ اُصَلِّيْ
“Pray as you have seen me praying.”
Keep in mind that from the takbir of ihram to the salam, the form of prayer is the same for men and women. For everyone, the takbir of ihram, standing, placing the hands (tying the hands), reciting the Dua al-Istiftah, Surah al-Fatihah, Amin, then another surah, then raising the hands, bowing (ruku), standing again, raising the hands, prostration (sajdah), the sitting of rest (jalsah al-istirahah), the first sitting (qa’dah ula), tashahhud, moving the finger (tahrik al-asabi), the final sitting (qa’dah akhirah), tawarruk, durood, and then the supplication, salam, and the specific supplications recited at each position are all alike.
Generally, the difference between men’s and women’s prayer that is mentioned in the books of Hanafi scholars, namely that men raise their hands up to the ears while women raise them only to the shoulders, that men tie their hands below the navel during standing while women tie them on the chest, and that in the state of sajdah men keep their thighs away from the abdomen while women press their thighs against the abdomen, is not mentioned in any authentic and explicit hadith.
Thus Imam Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
➊ وَاعْلَمْ اَنَّ هٰذِهِ السُّنَّةَ تَشْتَرِكُ فِيْهَا الرِّجَالُ وَالنِّسَاءُ وَلَمْ يَرِدْ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَي الْفَرْقِ بَيْنَهُمَا فِيْهَا وَكَذَالَمْ يَرِدْ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَي الْفَرْقِ بَيْنَ الرَّجُلِ وَالْمَرْأَةِ فِيْ مِقْدَارِ الرَّفْعِ رُوِيَ عَنِ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ اَنَّ الرَّجُلَ يَرْفَعُ اِلَي الْاُذُنَيْنِ وَالْمَرْأَةُ اِلَي الْمَنْكِبَيْنِ لِاَنَّهُ اَسْتَرُ لَهَاوَلَا دَلِيْلَ عَلٰي ذٰلِكَ كَمَاعَرَفْتَ
“Know that raising the hands is a sunnah in which men and women both share, and no hadith has come that indicates a difference between them regarding it, nor has any hadith come that indicates a difference between men and women in the amount of raising the hands. It is narrated from the Hanafis that men raise their hands up to the ears and women up to the shoulders, because this is more concealing for her, but there is no legal evidence for this from them.”
Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him), the commentator of Bukhari, and Allamah Shams al-Haq Azimabadi (may Allah have mercy on him) say:
لَمْ يَرِدْ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَي التَّفْرِقَهِ فِي الرَّفْعِ بَيْنَ الرَّجُلِ وَالْمَرْأَةِ
“No hadith has come regarding a difference between men and women in raising the hands for the takbir.”
➋ Men and women are equally commanded in the standing position to place their hands on the chest. Specifically, the separate instruction that only women place their hands on the chest while men tie them below the navel has no explicit and authentic hadith among the Hanafis.
Allamah Abdur Rahman Mubarakpuri (may Allah have mercy on him), in his commentary on Tirmidhi, says:
فاعلم ان مذهب الامام ابي حنيفة ان الرجل يضع اليدين فى الصلاة تحت السرة و المرأة تضعهما علي الصدر ولم يرو عنه ولا عن اصحابه شيء خلاف ذٰلك
“Know, then, that the madhhab of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) is that men place their hands below the navel in prayer and women on the chest, and no other statement contrary to this has been narrated from Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) or from his companions.”
Muhaddith al-Asr Allamah Nasir al-Din al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
وضعهما علي الصدر الذى ثبت فى السنة وخلافه اما ضعيف او لا اصل له “
“Placing the hands on the chest is established in the Sunnah, and whatever practice contradicts it is either weak or without any basis.”
➌ The practice of men keeping their thighs away from their abdomen during sajdah and of women prostrating in a compact manner is, according to Hanafi scholars, based on a mursal hadith, in which it is narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by two women who were praying, and he ﷺ said: “When you prostrate, join some part of your body to the ground, for the ruling for women in this matter is not like that of men.”
Allamah Nasir al-Din al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
مُرْسَلٌ لَا حُجَّةَ فِيْهِ رَوَاهُ اَبُوْ دَاؤُدَ فِي الْمَرَاسِيْلِ
“This narration is mursal, and it is not admissible as evidence. Imam Abu Dawud (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated it in al-Marasil from Yazid ibn Abi Habib.”
Moreover, this narration is munqati’ (broken chain), and one of the narrators in its chain, “Salim,” is matruk (abandoned) according to the muhaddithun.
Allamah Ibn al-Turkmani Hanafi has written about this narration in detail.
In support of this, Hanafi scholars present another narration: Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When a woman prostrates, she should press her abdomen against her thighs, so that this is the most concealing for her.”
Imam al-Bayhaqi (may Allah have mercy on him) himself has clearly stated regarding this narration that it is not correct to derive proof from such a weak narration. A report from Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) is also presented:
اِنَّهُ كَانَ يَأْمُرُ نِسَاءَهُ يَتَرَبَّعْنَ فِي الصَّلَاةِ
“He would instruct his women to sit cross-legged in the prayer.”
But in its chain, the narrator Abdullah ibn Umar al-Umari is weak.
Thus it becomes clear that the prevalent method of women’s prostration among the Hanafis is not established from any authentic hadith, whereas there are numerous sayings of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that are contrary to it. A few of them are cited here:
➊ لَايَنْبَسِطْ اَحَدُكُمْ ذِرَعَيْهِ اِنْبِسَاطَ الْكَلْبِ
“None of you should spread out his forearms during prostration like a dog.”
➋ اِعْتَدِلُوْا فِي السُّجُودِ، وَلَا يَفْتَرِشُ أَحَدُكُمْ ذِرَاعَيْهِ افْتِرَاشَ الْكَلْبِ
“Perform prostration with tranquility, and none of you should spread his forearms during prostration like a dog.”
In short, acts that resemble those of animals have been forbidden within prayer.
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “The Prophet ﷺ forbade imitating animals in prayer. Thus sitting in the manner a camel sits, or looking around like a fox, or spreading out like wild beasts, or sitting in iqa’ like a dog, or pecking like a crow, or raising the hands at the time of salam like the tails of unruly horses, all these actions are prohibited.”
Thus it is established that the prescribed Sunnah method of prostration is the one the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself practised, and it is narrated in the books of hadith as follows:
إِذَا سَجَدَ وَضَعَ يَدَيْهِ غَيْرَ مُفْتَرِشٍ وَلَا قَابِضِهِمَا
“When he prostrated, he would neither spread his hands on the ground nor join them to his sides.”
In no place in the Qur’an where the command to pray is revealed has Allah Almighty stated any difference in the manner of prayer between men and women. Secondly, no difference in the form of prayer has been reported from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in any authentic hadith. Thirdly, from the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the method of prayer of all the Mothers of the Believers, female companions, and women who acted upon the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ has remained the same as that of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Accordingly, Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) has reported with an authentic chain concerning Umm al-Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with her):
انهاكانت تجلس فى صلاتها جلسة الرجل و كانت فقيهة
“She would sit in prayer like men, and she was a jurist.”
Fourthly, the command of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is general:
“Pray as you have seen me praying.”
Women are also included in the generality of this command.
Fifthly, there is none among the righteous predecessors—namely the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Companions, the Successors, the Successors of the Successors, the muhaddithin, and the righteous of the Ummah—who claims with evidence that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ made a difference between the prayer of men and women. Rather, it is narrated with an authentic chain from Imam Ibrahim al-Nakha’i, the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifah: تَفْعَلُ الْمَرْأَةُ فِي الصَّلَاةِ كَمَا يَفْعَلُ الرَّجُلُ
“In prayer, a woman should do exactly as a man does.”
Those scholars who described a woman raising her hands to the shoulders for takbir, placing her hands on her chest during standing, and pressing herself against the ground in prostration as being more concealing (satr) for her, in fact based this on corrupt analogy. Since the Qur’an and Sunnah are silent on this, what right does any scholar have to act on his own whim and add to the religion on his own? However, apart from the form and manner of prayer, a few things differ between the prayer of men and women:
➊ It is necessary for women to cover their heads with a veil and also cover their feet. Without this, the prayer of an adult woman is not accepted, as the hadith of the Prophet states:
لَا يَقْبَلُ اللهُ صَلَاةَ الْحَائِضٍ إِلَّا بِخِمَارٍ
“Allah does not accept the prayer of any adult woman without a veil.”
But it is necessary for men to keep their garments above the ankles in all circumstances, as in the authentic hadith:
مَا أَسْفَلَ مِنَ الْكَعْبَيْنِ مِنَ الْإِزَارِ فَفِي النَّارِ
“Whatever part of the lower garment hangs below the ankles is in the Fire.”
➋ When a woman leads women in prayer, she should stand in the middle of the first row together with them; she should not step forward and stand ahead of them as men do.
Imam Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Shaybah (may Allah have mercy on him) in his Musannaf, and Imam al-Hakim (may Allah have mercy on him), narrated from Sayyiduna Ata (may Allah have mercy on him):
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهَا اَنَّهَا كَانَتْ تَؤُمُّ النِّسَاءَ فَتَقُوْمُ مَعَهُنَّ فِي الصَّفِّ
“Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) used to lead women in prayer and would stand with them in the row.”
And in the narration of Sayyida Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) it comes:
انها امت النساء فقامت و سطهن For further detail see:
“She led the women in prayer and stood among them in the middle.”
➌ When the imam forgets something in the prayer, men should say “Subhan Allah” to alert him, and women should clap, as appears in a sahih hadith:
التَّسْبِيْحُ لِلرِّجَالِ وَالتَّصْفِيْقُ لِلنِّسَاءِ
“For men it is Subhan Allah, and for women it is clapping.”
➍ Men are not excused from prayer under any circumstance, but a woman who is in the state of menstruation does not have to make up the prayers she missed; this ruling is established by sahih hadiths.
➎ Likewise, the last row of women is better than their first row, and the first row of men is better than their last row.
All these matters are correct in their own place, but a difference established by the Quran and Sunnah cannot be used as evidence for a difference that is not established. These distinctions are self-invented by the Hanafi scholars, and have no connection with the Quran and Sunnah.
