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Do These Ahadith Suggest That There Should Be Gender Segregation Everywhere?
Umm Salamah (May Allah be pleased with her) said that after Allah’s Messenger (May peace and blessings be upon him) said “as-Salamu ‘Alaykum wa Rahmatullah’ twice announcing the end of prayer, women would stand up and leave. He would stay for a while before leaving. Ibn Shihab said that he thought that the staying of the Prophet (May peace and blessings be upon him) was in order for the women to be able to leave before the men who wanted to depart.” Narrated by al-Bukhari under No. 793.
Abu Dawood under No. 876 narrates the same hadith in Kitab al-Salaat under the title “Insiraaf an-Nisaa’ Qabl al-Rijaal min al-Salaah” (Departure of Women before Men after the Prayer). Ibn ‘Umar said that Allah’s Messenger (May peace and blessings be upon him) said: “We should leave this door (of the mosque) for women.” Naafi’ said: “Ibn ‘Umar never again entered through that door until he died.” Narrated by Abu Dawood under No. 484 in “Kitab as-Salah” under the Chapter entitled: “at-Tashdid fi Thalik”.
Abu Hurayrah said that the Prophet (May peace and blessings be upon him) said: “”The best of the men’s rows is the first and the worst is the last, and the best of the women’s rows is the last and the worst in the first.” Narrated by Muslim under No. 664.
Abu Usayd al-Ansari narrated that he heard Allah’s Messenger (May peace and blessings be upon him) say to the women on his way out of the mosque when he saw men and women mixing together on their way home: ‘Give way (i.e., walk to the sides) as it is not appropriate for you to walk in the middle the road.’ Thereafter, women would walk so close to the wall that their dresses would get caught on it. Narrated by Abu Dawood in “Kitab al-Adab min Sunanihi, Chapter: Mashyu an-Nisa Ma’ ar-Rijal fi at-Tariq.”
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Do These Ahadith Suggest That There Should Be Gender Segregation Everywhere?
updated 11 months, 1 week ago
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This is about social manners which are observed when there is a chance that men and women intermingle due to a narrow passage. We have separate counters for males and females and separate washrooms for both for the same reason. The presence of women along with men in the mosque tells that there is no segregation between the genders, as suggested by Islam.
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Salam. Sorry for the late reply.
But what was the reason for leaving a gate only for women, making sure women leave before men and telling women to stay on the side of the road? Some people say that men & women prayed together in the mosque due to lack of space as the muslims were very little in number back then and the mosque was also small, but these hadiths suggest that there should be gender segregation whenever possible and now mosques should be segregation because we have bigger spaces to build mosques. You wrote these social manners are observed when there is intermingling due to narrow passage, but doesn’t the fact that this intermingling needs to be avoided in narrow passages mean that a form of gender segregation needs to be practiced?
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In additon to what Dr. Irfan Sahab said, you can also refer to the following article by Dar-ul-Ifta Egypt where other Hadith references have also been provided which provide a different picture in this regard:
Mixing with men for work purposes
The point being: We will take all these ahadith and understand them in the light of Quran and as per Quran, if norms of gender interaction are being carefully observed by both men and women, then there is no bar in their interaction. However, this does not mean that other measures cannot be taken to mitigate the risk of inappropriate intermingling of the genders (if any) which goes against the norms mentioned in Quran in a specific situation. But all such measures vary in time and space and may vary from culture to culture and age to age etc. and are primarily precautionary in nature.
Norms of Gender Interaction as per Quran:
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Salam.
But aren’t the people who lived during the time of the Prophet (PBUH) the most pious people? So if they had to follow those rules even in that time doesn’t that mean we have to follow those rules or even stricter rules because our society is not as sacred as their society.
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If you read surah ahzab you will come to know that what problems the Muslims and the prophet and his wives especially were facing . The hypocrites has launched and vehement campaign of scandalization against them. So much so They were warned to be annihilated and exiled from Madina. No such intense situation we have today.
However our society observe the manners of segregation of men and women. But there is no need , nor is it required by Islam to not let them appear in front of each other.
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