When and why did the tradition of woman not entering the mosque come into being?

Question

Though according to the shariyah, women have equal rights of entering the mosque as the men. Even at the time of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) women used to enter the mosque with hijab and used to pray freely. Then when and why did the women start the tradition of staying away from mosque?

Answer 1

All those preventing women from entering mosque are doing it because of cultural reasons in south east asia. Muslim women around the world go for juma/ taraweh. If a muslimah out of free will chooses not to go because of household duties there is no blame on her. But as a male the following hadith should be enough for "not allowing" women to enter mosque

Narrated Salim's father: the Prophet said, "If the wIfe of anyone of you asks permission to go to the mosque, he should not forbid her."
(Sahih Al-Bukhari: Book 62, Hadith 165)

My understanding of this is that in south east asia where lower caste are not allowed into temples of the higher class. This tradition has somewhat crept in from there.

Answer 2

I once went to a masjid in India and asked "Why are there no women here?" One brother inside, who I think was the imam of the masjid, said "They are only allowed in Ramadan for Tarawih". I said "Where did this start?" He said there is a hadith of Umar ibn Al Khattab (RA) that he saw women dressed lewdly and banned them from the mosque. The word got to Aisha (RA) and she commented that "If Rasulullah (SAW) was alive he would have also forbidden them from coming".

So some son of a shaytan somewhere twisted the meaning of this riwayah to mean "ALL women" and started applying that as a standard of Umar (RA) and banning women from masjid. This brother says that is what is taught through Dar Al Uloom Deoband.

I think it is disgraceful. May Allah ta 'Ala open their eyes and provide for our sisters to also participate in the masjid.

Answer 3

There is not a single verse in the Qur’an, which prohibits ladies from entering mosques.

There is not a single authen­tic Hadith which I am aware of which states that the Prophet (pbuh) prevented or forbade women from going to mosques.

There is only one Hadith, which perhaps could have been misunderstood to mean that women should not go to the mosque. That Hadith is as follows@

Abdullah Bin Mas’ud reported the Prophet (pbuh) as saying: It is more excellent for a woman to pray in her house than in her courtyard, and more excellent for her to pray in her private chamber than in her house. [Sunan Abu Dawood Vol.1 Chapter 204 Hadith No.570]

If you base your conclusion only on this single Hadith, then you may wrongly conclude that it is not advisable or preferable for women to go to the mosque. However, your conclusion cannot be based only on one Hadith neglecting or ignoring all the other Ahadith.

There are several Ahadith which prove that both men and women used to go to the mosques during the life of the prophet (pbuh):

1. The Prophet (pbuh) said, ‘Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from going to the mosque of Allah.’ [Sahih Muslim Vol.1 Chapter 177 Hadith No.886]

2. And husbands were specifically told by him, “If the wife of any one of you asks permission (to go to the mosque) do not forbid her.” (Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book of Salaah, Chapter 80, Hadith No. 832)

From the time the Prophet (pbuh)entered Madinah, after Hijra, till his demise, he never prevented women from entering the mosque.

During the Prophet’s (pbuh) time, mosques had separate entrances for ladies. Women filled the mosques from behind while men had sepa­rate entrances and filled the mosques from the front. In between the two sections were children.

Islam permits women to pray in mosques. Ladies should have separate and equal facilities. Islam does not permit the inter­mingling of sexes. Otherwise, there will be a similar scene in mosques like other places of worship where some people even come for ‘bird-watching’ and eve teasing.

In recent times, women are not allowed in mosques in a few countries especially in India and its neighbouring countries. Otherwise, in most of the other countries, women are allowed in mosques. Women are allowed in mosques in Saudi Arabia, in U.A.E; in Egypt, in U.S.A; in the U.K and in Singapore.

Women are also allowed in the sacred mosques, Masjid-e-Haram in Makkah and in Masjid-e-Nabawi in Madinah.

The reason behind not allowed in mosques as explain on above stanza Islam does not permit the intermingling of sexes. Otherwise, there will be a similar scene in mosques like other places of worship where some people even come for ‘bird-watching’ and eve teasing. and also now a times is different compare to Prophet times, peoples are more illiterate than literate.

Hope you are getting me what I am trying to explain, at last the solution is make peoples literate in more accurate way LEARN QURAN & TEACH QURAN!