Mufti Abu Layth Archive: society/women-and-gender/women-in-worship-and-mosques

Can a woman be an imam and lead the prayer?

2021-01-26T00:00:00Z

Can a woman be an imam and lead the prayer?

Yes: a woman can be an imam and her leading the prayer is valid, though whether it works in practice depends on her society accepting it. Mufti Abu Layth says a woman can be an imam and her leading the prayer is permissible and valid, though whether imamship works in practice depends on whether her society accepts it.

Answer from 26 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #199 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 50:21)

Watch on YouTube at 50:21 · Open the segment

Can a woman lead the prayer or give the khutbah?

2021-01-12T00:00:00Z

Can a woman lead the prayer or give the khutbah?

Yes, he says a woman may lead the prayer, give the adhan or the khutbah; it is not invalid, it is just generally not done. Mufti Abu Layth says he does not believe it is haram or invalid for a woman to lead the prayer, give the khutbah or be the imam.

Answer from 12 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #197 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:34:44)

A more recent answer on society/women-and-gender/women-in-worship-and-mosques exists (26 January 2021): Can a woman be an imam and lead the prayer?

Watch on YouTube at 1:35:21 · Open the segment

Can women be stopped from going to the mosque because of fitnah?

2020-04-19T00:00:00Z

Can women be stopped from going to the mosque because of fitnah?

The guest says there is no evidence for keeping women from the mosque beyond fear of fitnah, since even harassment in the Prophet's time did not lead to a ban; Mufti Abu Layth cites Malik's report of men and women making wudu together.

Answer from 19 April 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Shaykh Kashif Khan | Policing thought, Pornography & Pandora's box | MindTrap with Mufti #15 (at 29:14)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 29:14 · Open the segment

Is it a Sunnah for women to pray in a wardrobe or the innermost room?

2020-01-17T00:00:00Z

Is it a Sunnah for women to pray in a wardrobe or the innermost room?

The claim that women praying in a wardrobe is a Sunnah rests on a weak, indeed false, hadith that is not a saying of the Prophet. Mufti Abu Layth sees the following of such claims as dogma and herd mentality. Mufti Abu Layth says the report used to call women praying in a wardrobe a Sunnah is a weak and in fact false hadith, not a saying of the Prophet.

Answer from 17 January 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Reply to Daniel Haqiqatjou on Mufti Menk | Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:05)

A more recent answer on dialogue/views-on-contemporary-scholars exists (22 February 2023): Should scholars publicly condemn a scholar said to have joined in a libation ritual?

Watch on YouTube at 5:05 · Open the segment

Have Muslims really kept women out of mosques for 1,400 years?

2019-05-04T00:00:00Z

Have Muslims really kept women out of mosques for 1,400 years?

No: women prayed in mosques from the Prophet's time on and classical scholars held many such views, so the '1,400 years' claim fails; Mufti Abu Layth doubts Haqiqatjou's scholarly training.

Answer from 4 May 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Daniel Haqiqatjou and Women praying in the Wardrobe -Mufti Abu Layth (at 31:44)

A more recent answer on society/women-and-gender exists (10 March 2023): Who carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?

Watch on YouTube at 31:44 · Open the segment

Is the hadith about women praying in the darkest part of the house authentic?

2019-05-04T00:00:00Z

Is the hadith about women praying in the darkest part of the house authentic?

No: the chains run through unknown, abandoned or weak narrators, so the reports are fabricated or very weak and clash with the sahih hadith. Mufti Abu Layth says the narrations about a woman praying in the darkest part of her house are either fabricated or very weak.

Answer from 4 May 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Daniel Haqiqatjou and Women praying in the Wardrobe -Mufti Abu Layth (at 23:22)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication/narrator-criticism exists (19 April 2023): Why does the practice of Madinah matter more than a single hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 23:22 · Open the segment

Is it better for women to pray at home than in the mosque?

2019-05-04T00:00:00Z

Is it better for women to pray at home than in the mosque?

No: sahih hadith show women regularly praying in the Prophet's mosque, the Prophet forbade stopping them, and Umar and Ali provided imams for them. Mufti Abu Layth says the reports placing a woman's prayer at home above the Prophet's mosque go against the sahih hadith of women attending the mosque.

Answer from 4 May 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Daniel Haqiqatjou and Women praying in the Wardrobe -Mufti Abu Layth (at 15:11)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated/about-women exists (6 April 2021): Did the Prophet say a wife should prostrate to her husband?

Watch on YouTube at 15:11 · Open the segment

Does a hadith tell women to pray in a closet?

2019-05-04T00:00:00Z

Does a hadith tell women to pray in a closet?

No: the word makhda' means an inner sleeping chamber, not a closet, and such rooms were dark only because houses had no lamps. Mufti Abu Layth says the makhda' in these reports was the sleeping chamber within the inner part of a house, not a closet or cupboard.

Answer from 4 May 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Daniel Haqiqatjou and Women praying in the Wardrobe -Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:33)

A more recent answer on quran/arabic-language exists (18 October 2025): Is the 'light' that came with the clear book in 5:15 the Prophet or the Quran itself?

Watch on YouTube at 5:33 · Open the segment

Daniel Haqiqatjou's post that praying in a closet is a Sunnah for women

2019-05-04T00:00:00Z

Daniel Haqiqatjou's post that praying in a closet is a Sunnah for women

Daniel Haqiqatjou's post claimed that a woman praying in a closet revives a Sunnah and that this is better for her than praying in the Prophet's mosque.

Answer from 4 May 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Daniel Haqiqatjou and Women praying in the Wardrobe -Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on dialogue/responses-to-critics exists (6 April 2021): Donors, deathbed remarks and 'no hatred': an invitation to the critic

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Is a woman's prayer rejected if she wears perfume to the mosque?

2018-05-04T00:00:00Z

Is a woman's prayer rejected if she wears perfume to the mosque?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the report is a statement attributed to Abu Hurayra through unknown and weak narrators, not a hadith of the Prophet, and no one holds that such a prayer is invalid. Mufti Abu Layth says the report that a perfumed woman's prayer is not accepted until she bathes is not from the Prophet, rests on unknown and weak narrators, and is followed by no one.

Answer from 4 May 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: On Women Wearing Perfume: Debunking Weak and Blasphemous Hadith -Mufti Abu Layth (at 23:40)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication/narrator-criticism exists (19 April 2023): Why does the practice of Madinah matter more than a single hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 23:40 · Open the segment

Doesn't the hadith of Zaynab forbid women from wearing perfume to the mosque?

2018-05-04T00:00:00Z

Doesn't the hadith of Zaynab forbid women from wearing perfume to the mosque?

The report only tells women not to wear perfume to the late Isha, sometimes Zaynab alone, so Mufti Abu Layth reads it as a specific instruction, not a general ban. Mufti Abu Layth says Zaynab's report, which mentions only the late Isha and in some versions addresses her alone, was a specific instruction for an unstated reason and not a general prohibition of perfume for women.

Answer from 4 May 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: On Women Wearing Perfume: Debunking Weak and Blasphemous Hadith -Mufti Abu Layth (at 19:47)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated/about-women exists (6 April 2021): Did the Prophet say a wife should prostrate to her husband?

Watch on YouTube at 19:47 · Open the segment

Must a young woman cover her face because of fitnah?

2014-05-09T00:00:00Z

Must a young woman cover her face because of fitnah?

The speakers disagree: one holds the books require covering where there is fitnah from young women, the other that such a rule would swallow the Prophet's own practice.

Answer from 9 May 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Mufti Abu Layth & Ustadh AbdusShakur Brooks: A discussion on Maliki Fiqh (at 6:30)

A more recent answer on fiqh/hijab-and-niqab exists (9 May 2021): Did scholars let slave women uncover more than free women?

Watch on YouTube at 6:30 · Open the segment