We are a family of four. Sometimes we all pray together in a congregation. We take the task of leading the prayer in turn. When it was the turn of our mother to lead the prayer, someone suggested that a woman cannot lead the prayer.
The question on whether a woman may lead the prayers does not have anything to do with the equality of the sexes. There is no doubt that Islam considers men and women equal. That can be seen in the fact that the duties Islam requires of both men and women are the same. Both offer the same prayers, fast the same month and perform the same kind of pilgrimage, attending to all the duties in the same way.
That, however, does not preclude that some differences may be needed in some situations to allow for the fact that the two sexes are different in certain ways. Such differences may require some concessions to be given to one but not the other of the two sexes.
An example is seen in the fact that a woman does not offer any prayer during her period and she is not required to compensate for that later. She is also not required to fast during her period, but she must fast later in order to bring her fasting days to the same number as men and women who do not have the period should fast.
The question of woman's place and appearance in prayer relates to propriety, not equality. In any community two people may be equal but they may have different tasks and duties. In the question of leading the prayers, no woman may lead a congregation which includes one man or more, or even one which includes boys. She leads a congregation of women only. Even when she does so, she stands in the middle of the first row, not ahead of it as a man does.
So, it is correct that your mother could not lead the prayer when you or your brother are in the congregation.
Having said that I should also explain that I find the system of leading the prayer by turn rather unusual. The Prophet, peace be upon him, has explained that the person who should be the imam is the one who recites the Qur'an best. When two men recite the Qur'an equally well, the task of leading the prayer goes to the one who has wider knowledge of Islam. Then we apply different criteria in accordance with what scholars have outlined.
1. Is it permissible for a woman not to comply with her husband's wishes with regard to her appearance, if he asks her to wear make-up or to have her hair styled in a certain fashion?
2. Is there any clear instruction in the Qur'an or Hadith which requires Muslim women to cover their heads during their normal day-to-day activity?
3. Is it true that only married women may wear their hair short, if they so choose? Young girls, it is said, do not have this option. Their parents may not allow them to cut their hair.
1. Let us first of all be clear about the situation we are talking about. What the husband is requesting applies within the family home, when he is with his wife and children, not having a party at home where men and women mix together. If so, then a woman is strongly advised by the Prophet to make herself appealing to her husband. By doing so, she helps him feel completely satisfied with what he has at home. He does not look to others, wishing that his wife does the same as them. Also, a man is recommended not to neglect his appearance. While everyone likes to be relaxed at home, putting on the same dress day after day and totally neglecting one's appearance is bound to have a negative effect on one's partner. This applies in both cases. Indeed, it is a wise woman who takes care to dress well when her husband is about to come back from work.
Let us take the example of hair style. If a man comes home to find his wife wearing her home dress, having been in the kitchen all the time, with her hair dishelved, he is bound to compare her with other women he may see in the street, at the office or on television. He feels that there is something missing in his family life. If he likes his wife to wear her hair short and she refuses, he is bound to be upset. She may protest to him that it is un-Islamic for a woman to wear her hair short, as many people believe. This is in fact a mistaken notion. It is more traditional of certain societies. If a woman wears her hair short, she commits no offense, provided that she does not appear in front of men other than her husband, father, brothers or uncles. To assume that it is forbidden for a woman to cut her hair short is totally mistaken.
2. Verse 31 of Surah 24, entitled "Light" or "An-Noor" deals with what women may reveal and what they must hide. It states this instruction to believing women: "Let them draw their head coverings over their bosoms." What this instruction means is that a Muslim woman must have a head cover which she should draw over her bosom to cover her neck and chest. She should do that when she appears before men who are not related to her or rather men to whom she can be married.
In a Hadith, which I have quoted quite often (in these columns), the Prophet tells his sister-in-law, Asma' bint Abu Bakr: "Asma', when a woman attains puberty, nothing maybe seen of her except this and this." (The Prophet pointed to his face and to the lower parts of his arms.)
You have here a clear instruction in the Qur'an and in the Hadith. With such conclusive evidence, no one may argue that covering her head is not required of a Muslim woman.
3. The whole notion of having one rule for married women with regard to how long they should wear their hair and another for unmarried women is absurd. Why should it be so? It is only traditional values in a particularly society which make long hair more desirable for women. In another society, the reverse may be true. But this is not how things are determined in Islam. Islam sets rules to be implemented everywhere.
There is nothing to stop a woman from wearing her hair short, if she so desires. The same applies to young girls. The only thing that we must be careful about is that when women cut their hair, they should not appear before 'men' strangers. Indeed, this applies to all women regardless of how long they wear their hair.
• Women: Guardianship of a mother
I am writing about the case of a working mother who wanted to deposit an amount of money in the bank [in India] in the name of her young son, but the bank officer told her that she could not do so, because she could not be considered a guardian of her son. They produced a legal document outlining provisions of guardianship, which made it clear that a woman cannot be such a guardian according to Islamic law. She was dumbfounded, as she could never understand how she could not give some money to her son. She wonders whether in the case of the death of a father, the mother has no guardianship rights over her son. The legal documents produced by the bank states clearly that, for Muslims, in the case of the death of a minor’s father, a guardian may be either the executor appointed by the father’s will, or the father’s father, or the executor appointed by the will of the father’s father. I will be grateful for your advice.
The question of limits of a woman’s rights is often a subject of controversy, with some people always trying to narrow that as far as possible. Law, particularly in countries where Islamic law had to give way to different types of jurisdiction, such as colonial, national or secular laws sometimes imposes limitation. In countries where the Muslims are in minority, the law may or may not take the provisions of Islamic law in consideration. In certain cases, we find the national authorities in such countries taking a strict view impose limitations that meet the narrower Islamic view, particularly in matters that may lead to controversy. They hope that by doing so they avoid minority problems. But such an attitude may backfire, or may impose restrictions that are unnecessary and often work to the detriment of the individuals.
I feel that what happened here is a mistaken application of Islamic law by the authorities or by the bank. The limited guardianship in Islam applies to the right to manage or dispose of a minor’s property. This guardianship belongs to the minor’s father, or in the case of his death, to the executor appointed by him. If he has not appointed any executor, then the guardianship belongs to the ruler, the grandfather and the mother. The ruler may appoint an executor to look after the minor’s property. The executor whether appointed by the father before his death or by the ruler, may be a man or a woman.
What has happened in this case is that the mother’s action was equated with disposal of property, which it is not. Since the mother’s action was really one which served the interests of the child, the bank should have accepted the deposit. May be that the bank officials decided that they did not want to bear any responsibility and that it would be safer for them that any financial transaction should be done by the legal guardian. As far as Islamic law is concerned, a woman has full freedom and authority to enter into any financial contract or transaction on her own behalf. She may do so as a guardian if she is given that status over a minor, either by the will of the minor’s father or by a decision of a ruler, who may delegate that task to a court or a judge.