A woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in the mosque
Question I am a married man. My wife is currently in another country visiting her family. She heard a lecture about the reward of the congregational prayers, especially Fajr prayer, and she wants to get the reward of the congregation. But she should not go to the masjid as it is at very late time?…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
A woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in
the mosque. It was narrated from Umm Humayd, the wife of Abu Humayd
al-Saa’idi (may Allaah be pleased with her), that she came to the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of
Allaah, I love to pray with you. He said: “I
know that you love to pray with me, but praying in your house is better foryou than praying in yourcourtyard,
and praying inyour
courtyardis better for you than praying in themosque of your people, and praying in the mosque of your people is
better foryou than praying in my mosque.” So she
ordered that a prayer-place be built forher in the
furthest and darkest part of her house, and she always prayed thereuntil she met Allaah (i.e., until shedied).
Narrated by Ahmad (26550); classed as saheeh by Ibn Khuzaymah in his
Saheeh (3/95), Ibn Hibbaan (5/595) and al-Albaani in Saheeh
al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb (1/135).
It was narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be
pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said:
“A
woman’s prayer in her house is better than her prayer in hercourtyard, and her prayer in her
bedroom is better than herprayer in her house.”Narrated by Abu Dawood (570) and al-Tirmidhi (1173);
classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb
(1/136).
“In her house” refers to the room in which the woman is.
“in her courtyard” refers to the central part of the house to
which all the doors open. It is like what people nowadays call the hallway.
“her bedroom” refers to a smaller room inside a larger room,
where she keeps her precious belongings.
See: ‘Awn al-Ma’bood.
Based on this, tell your wife that this is better, and that
by praying in the house she will attain a reward greater than that for
praying in the mosque, praise be to Allaah.
Secondly:
Your praying on behalf of your wife is not valid, and does
not count instead of her own prayer. No one can pray on behalf of anyone
else, whether they are living or dead, according to the majority of
scholars, and some narrated that there was consensus on this point. See:
Fath al-Baari (11/584). It says in al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah
(2/334): As for purely physical acts of worship, such as prayer and fasting,
it is not permissible to delegate someone else to do them when one is alive.
End quote.
And Allaah knows best.
