One of the current problematic issues in mosques that give access to women is the excessive sensitivity towards, and sometimes the strict banning of, ordinary interaction between men and women. Interestingly, those men and women do interact normally with other men and women in the outer community in all walks of social and professional life.
Referring back to the Sunnah, we find that such interaction between men and women in mosques did exist during the Prophet’s lifetime; it was normal interaction that involved various religious and social affairs.
True, some violations were reported in the Sunnah, but they were limited and viewed as individual cases that required no radical change in the original rulings of interaction, nor in the arrangement of rows in prayer, or even in the architectural design of the Mosque itself.
The following Hadiths are just few examples of how men and women interacted in mosque, in the presence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as narrated by male and female Companions. They show what we may call “normal” interaction between men and women in mosque, and they are clear enough to require no further elaboration.
What the Sunnah Says
1. Asma’ (may Allah be pleased with her) recounted:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up amongst us and preached to us, mentioning the trial a dead person suffers in the grave, and thereupon the people clamored in a manner that prevented me from perceiving the concluding words of the Messenger of Allah. When they calmed down, I asked a man near to me, “May Allah bless you, what did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) say concluding his sermon?” and he answered, “It was revealed to me that you would be tested in your graves in a manner almost similar to that of Ad-Dajjal’s trial.“[1]
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