Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
It is preferable for Muslim women to perform prayer in a private place. This is more protective of the woman’s personality and honor. However, there is nothing wrong if the Muslim woman performs prayer in a public place such as a park or garden as long as she adheres to the Islamic hijab, and she herself feels secure.
In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America, states the following:
For a woman, it is indeed better to pray in a private place. It is much more conducive for her hijab and her modesty. Women who work outside their homes should ask their employers to provide them a proper place for prayers.
However, those who cannot find a private place for prayers should pray wherever it is possible for them to pray, as originally women are allowed to pray in public places.
The above quotation is excerpted with slight modifications from www.pakistanlink.net
Moreover, the prominent Azharite scholar Sheikh `Abdul-Majeed Subh, concludes:
There is nothing wrong, as far as Islam is concerned, in a woman performing prayer in a public place as long as she adheres to her Muslim identity. It is also better for the woman who performs prayer in a public place to choose a place that is remote from the eye sight of people to the best of her ability.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.