Part 3

However, if she does fear forgetting them, she is allowed to read the Quran, according to some of the scholars. It is unanimously agreed that when the bleeding stops and the woman performs the purificatory bath, she can read the Quran and pray. If she cannot perform the purificatory bath due to the absence of water or on account of some disease, she is to perform the dry ablution instead which is equivalent to the purificatory bath.

Making up missed prayers

Q: Should a man who missed many prayers make them up along with their optional (Sunnah) prayers, or is he to make up the obligatory prayers only ? And are they to be made up any time of the day?

A: Immediacy in making up missed prayers is more important than occupying oneself with making up optional prayers. Yet, if the prayers missed are few in number, making up optional prayers is recommended.

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and his companions overslept and missed the dawn(Fajr) prayer, during Hunain battle, they made up the obligatory and optional prayer, and when he missed the prayer during the trench battle, he made up only the obligatory prayers and not the optional ones. Missed prayers can be made up any time of day. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, says: "Whoever finds one rak'ah (unit) at dawn before the rising of the sun, he in fact finds the dawn prayer."

Is making up missed prayer better Than performing optional prayer ?

Q: which is better, making up missed prayers or performing optional prayers ?

A: Ifa man has missed an obligatory prayer, making it up is more important than occupying oneself with performing optional prayers.

Q: What about a woman's outfit and whether she is allowed to display it?

A: In prayer, a woman is allowed to display outward, but not inward, ornaments. The predecessors had disagreed as to what outward ornament is. Ibn Masoud and his supporters stated it was clothes, whereas Ibn Abass and his supporters mentioned it was the face and the hands, such as the kohl (eye liner) and rings.

Based on these two views, scholars disagreed whether it is allowed to look at a strange woman. According to Abu Haneifa and Ashafe'ei, driven by no sexual appetite, a man is allowed to look at a woman's hands and face.

According to Ahmad's view, a man is_ not allowed to. According to Malek, the whole body of a woman is considered private parts, right down to her nails.

Ornaments are of two types; outward and inward. Allah has allowed a woman to display her ornaments to people other than her husband and her prohibited affinities.

Before the verse obligating a woman to take the veil was revealed, women used to go out wearing no outer garments (jilbab) and men were able to see their hands and faces, since a woman was allowed to show both her hands and face then. Consequently, it was not unlawful for a man to look at them as she was allowed to display them.

When Allah, exalted be He, revealed the verse obligating a woman to take the veil, "O Prophet ! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad)" (Al Ahzab: 59), women became forbidden to look at. That was when the Prophet married Zaynab bent Gahsh, he drew curtains and forbade women to be looked at. When he married Safeya bent Hoiay, a year later, i.e. in the year when the battle of Khaibar took place, people said: If he forbade that she be looked at, she would be one of the mothers of the believers, otherwise she would be one of those whom his right hand possesses. So he ordered that she be veiled.

Allah ordered that women be not asked questions except from behind a_ veil, and ordered that the Prophet's wives and daughters as well as the believing women should cast their outer garments over their persons. This outer garment or jilbab is a sheet of cloth or what Ibn Masoud and others refer to as raiment, and which is generally referred to by people as loincloth, that is the large loincloth covering her head and her whole body.

Abu Obayda and others narrated that women used to hang it down on their heads so that only their eyes could be seen. Similarly, women who used to cover their faces.

According to the authentic book, "And the Muhrima (a woman in the state of Zhram [sanctity] ) should not cover her face, and should not wear gloves." So, if women are ordered to wear the outer garment (jilbab), which entails covering the face, the face and the hands are therefore understood to be among the ornaments that she is ordered not to display before strangers. In addition to that, strangers are allowed to look at all else with the exception of outside clothes.

Ibn Masoud mentioned the latter, whereas Ibn Abass mentioned the former. The verse allows a woman to display ornaments to her prohibited affinities and others, while the Prophet's saying only permits it to the prohibited affinities. The verse mentions "their women, their slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free

of physical need", though a woman is not allowed to travel with any of them.

Allah says, "their women" so as to exclude the disbelieving women, for a disbelieving woman is not to deliver a Muslim woman, nor to enter a bathroom with her. However, Jewish women used to walk in on A'isha and others and they saw her face and hands, which men were not allowed to see.

Thus, the face and hands are understood to be among the inward ornaments and displaying them would depend on who is to see them. Allah says, "they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad)", meaning a woman is to cover her neck, and so necklaces and the like are considered to be among the inward and not the outward ornaments.

Concealing women's private parts from men and women

Q: What about concealing women's private parts from men and women.?

A: Allah's Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "A man should not see the private parts of another man, and a woman should not see the private parts of another woman.” He also said, "Conceal your private parts except from your wife and from whom your right hand possesses (slave-girl). I then asked: (what should we do), if the people are assembled together? He

replied, If it is within your power that no one looks at it, then no one should look at it. I then asked: If one of us is alone (what should he do)? He replied, Allah is more entitled than people that bashfulness should be seen to Him."

Concerning children, the Prophet said, "Command your children to pray when they become seven years old and beat them for it (prayer) when they become ten years old; and arrange their beds (to sleep) separately." Thus, looking at as well as touching the private parts of others is forbidden on account of the obscenity and indecency of that.

As for concealing women from men, this is on account of the libido involved and this falls into two categories. There is yet a third category to be observed in prayer; if a woman prays alone, she must wear a veil, whereas she is allowed to walk bare-headed at home. Thus, taking the veil during prayer is out of reverence to Allah.

Likewise, man is not allowed to walk around his house naked, even if he is alone and at night, nor to pray naked. even if he is alone. Therefore, wearing clothes during prayer is not to conceal oneself from people, as this is an entirely different matter. Hence, a man can cover certain parts of his body while praying which he is allowed to leave uncovered when not praying.

Conversely, he is allowed to leave uncovered in prayer what he must conceal from men. The former refers to the shoulders, for instance, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade a man to pray in a single garment that does not cover his shoulders. This is a must out of reverence to prayer, whereas man is allowed to uncover his shoulders before other men when not praying.

Similarly, a woman must wear a veil while praying, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "Allah does not accept the prayer of a woman who has reached puberty unless she wears a veil." However, a woman does not have to wear a veil before her husband or her prohibited affinities. | A woman is allowed to display her inward ornaments before them, but is not allowed to uncover her head before them or any others while praying.

Showing the face, the hands, and the feet before strangers

On the other hand, a woman is not allowed to display her face, hands and feet before strangers, according to the most valid of the two opinions, unlike what was followed before the verse was nullified by Allah. She is only to display her clothes. However, she is not to cover them during prayer, as all Muslims unanimously agree. They can be displayed in prayer according to the majority of

scholars, such as Abu Haneifa, Ashafei and others.

Likewise, according to Abu Haneifa, the feet can be displayed, which is the opinion most likely to be correct. According to A'isha, the feet are among the outward ornaments, she said, " that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof ." (Al Nur: 31) She also said, "The toe ring is a ring made of silver for the toes." Narrated by Abu Hatem, which proves that women used to show their feet, their hands and faces and they also used to hang down their garments so that if a woman walks her feet could be seen. Women did not use to wear shoes and so covering their feet in prayer would be an enormous inconvenience.

Om Salamah said, "A woman can pray in a shift that reaches down and covers the top of her feet" so that if she kneels down in prostration, the sole of her feet could be seen.

It was proved both by the Quran and by the unanimity of scholars that a woman does not have to wear a loose garment that covers her body even if she prays at home. However, she must wear it when she goes out. When she prays at home, her hands and face can be seen, as the private parts in prayer are not related to that private parts prohibited to be looked at.