When I pray, I read the Qur'an and repeat words of prayer in Arabic which I do not understand. Is there any benefit in that?
Yes, indeed. There is a great deal of benefit which comes your way. To start with, you discharge your duty of praying as Allah has commanded you. That, on its own, earns you great reward from Allah. Secondly, there is the general benefit which accrues to everyone who attends regularly to his prayers, mainly, that prayers serve as a constant reminder to him against doing anything which incurs Allah's displeasure. In other words, he is constantly reminded, by his prayers, to be good.
There is also the feeling that you are reading Allah's own words as He has revealed them to His last messenger. Moreover, by maintaining this proper form of prayers, you feel that you belong to the Islamic community which groups together people of different races, languages, colors and nationalities. They all use the same form of prayers when they address their Lord.
Do I detect an implicit question of whether prayers can be conducted in one's mother tongue. The answer is a very simple one: we have to worship Allah as He wants us to worship Him. He has desired us to offer our obligatory worship in His own words. He has given us His words in Arabic. Any translation is the work of the translator. He uses his words as he thinks they convey the meaning of Allah's words best. The difference between using Allah's own words and those of any translator is great indeed. As for ordinary supplication (i.e. Dua') one can use one's own words for that purpose at all times other than when one offers formal prayers.
As for understanding what one is saying in one's prayers, anyone can learn the meaning of a few surahs which he uses in his prayers more frequently. He can then increase his understanding of other parts of the Qur'an.
• Prayers: Witr — offering only one rak'ah for Witr
I normally offer the obligatory prayer of Isha and follow it with only one rak'ah of Witr. Is this appropriate? May I also ask whether a Hanafi person like myself may follow other schools of thought in certain matters only, not because it happens to be more convenient but because it sounds more logical and appealing?
Let me tell you first that if you offer your Witr in one rak'ah only then you are not Hanafi, because the Hanafi school of thought does not approve of one rak'ah in any prayer. In Witr the Hanafi school requires that the three rak'ahs are offered jointly, not separated in two and one, as other schools of thought advise.
However, we can say that the Witr, according to many scholars may be offered in a minimum of one and a maximum of eleven rak'ahs.
Nevertheless, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked this question and he advised the questioner that he was not in favor of one-rak'ah Witr. He made it clear that it was much more preferable to start with two and finish with one to complete three rak'ahs for Witr. It remains possible for a worshipper to reduce the Witr to its minimum when he is very tired and sleepy. In normal circumstances, it is much more preferable to offer Witr in at least three rak'ahs. There is no rigid requirement to stick to any particular school of thought. That does not normally happen in real life. [This has been discussed at length in earlier volumes.]
• Prayers: Women covering head during prayer
Why do women have to cover their heads during prayer, recitation of the Qur'an or listening to it?
It is important to understand that there is a part of the body of every human being which must be covered so that it may not be seen by others. That part of the body of a man extends, according to most scholars, from waist line down to his knees. Some scholars are of the view that this part, which we call in Islamic terminology "Awrah" is limited to a man's private parts.
The supporting evidence of the scholars of this view is certainly strong. All scholars agree that Awrah of a woman includes all her body with the exception of her face and the lower parts of her arms, from the wrists downwards.
When they offer their prayers, both men and women must cover all their Awrah. When a woman is with other women only, her Awrah is the same as of a man with other men, i.e. from the waist line to the knees. With her close relatives whom she may not marry, such as her brother, father or nephew, a woman may wear a normal dress which reveals her head, her neck and her arms. If a woman wants to read the Qur'an and she is alone or with other women, it is not obligatory for her to cover her head.