Question: Is is permissible for a woman to lead a group of women in prayer if there are no men to lead? Or, if there is a womens’ only party, can a woman lead the other sisters? Or, for something like Tarawih, can she lead if she is a Hafidha and wants to practice her recitation in prayer?
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
As Imam Al-Dardir (d. 1204 AH) says in his commentary on the Mukhtasar of Imam Khalil, it is impermissible for women to lead the salat, including in nafl (optional) prayers, even if there are no other men around to lead.
This is because one of the preconditions for leading the prayer is being a male. So if one were to pray behind a woman, they would have to repeat their prayers under all circumstances.
The prayer is something tawqifi, i.e something where we are not instructed to act except when given permission. For example, before the verses on dry ablution (tayammum) were revealed, when the Companions did not have water to make wudu’ to pray, rather than praying without wudu’, they waited and then after that, the verses for tayammum were revealed.
Written by Uthman Qureshi.
Source: Dardir’s Commentary on Mukhtasar Khalil:
(أَوْ) بَانَ (امْرَأَةً) وَلَوْ لِمِثْلِهَا فِي فَرْضٍ أَوْ نَفْلٍ (أَوْ) بَانَ (خُنْثَى مُشْكِلًا) وَلَوْ لِمِثْلِهِ كَذَلِكَ لِأَنَّ شَرْطَ تَحَقُّقِ الذُّكُورَةِ…
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