Can a woman lead a family of Mahrams (both male and female) into prayer?

Question

Given the family is mahram, there wouldn't be lust or any evil thoughts involved what would be the issue to that. Please provide a sound argument from Quran and Hadith, to justify a claim or counter.

Answer 1

No, according to the majority. That is because the texts preventing a woman from imamah over men:

• are general, not specific to strangers
• do not provide a criterion (such as lust or any evil thoughts) on which they are conditional
• do not make an exception for a mahram

Whereas texts on imamah of women (such as those narrated from or regarding Aisha, Umm Salama and Umm Waraqah) specify that they only lead other women. ^{[see مصنف ابن أبي شيبة]}

A few jurists have considered it permitted under specific conditions, for example when there is no other male who knows recitation. This view is based on the second of the variants of the hadith of Umm Waraqah:

أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أذن لها أن يؤذن لها ويقام وتؤم نساءها

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her permission that adhan be called, iqamah be said and that she lead her women in prayer.

^{— Sunan al-Daraqutni}

وكان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ... وأمرها أن تؤم أهل دارها

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ... commanded her to lead the inmates of her house in prayer.

^{— Sunan Abi Dawud}

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For Reference:

فلا يجوز للمرأة أن تؤم الرجل عموما -ولو زوجها- عند عامة أهل العلم، وذهب بعض أهل العلم إلى صحة ذلك في النافلة، أو قيام رمضان بقيود

^{— https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/295672/}

لا يجوز للمرأة أن تؤم الرجل سواء أكان زوجها أم ابنها أم أباها

It is not allowed for a woman to lead men in prayer, regardless if he is her husband, son or brother.

^{— Ibn al-Uthaymeen, translation of فتاوى المرأة}

Answer 2

There is no guidance in the Qu'ran itself on this.

Within the Hadith, none of the following reports concerned women-led prayer was deemed entirely reliable by classical scholars in the four main Sunni traditions due to a weakness in the chain of transmitters - they all go back to a single unreliable narrator:

Aisha

a. A woman reported that 'Aisha led us. And she stood between us during obligatory prayer.

b. It is reported that 'Aisha used to say the adhan, the iqama and lead women in prayer whilst standing amongst them in the same row.

c. It is reported that 'Aisha used to lead women in prayer during the month of Ramadan while standing among them in the same row.

Umm Salama

Umm Salama led us [women] in the afternoon prayer and stood amongst us (in the same row).

Umm Waraqa

a. The Prophet (pbuh) used to visit Umm Waraqa in her own home; he appointed a mu'adhdhin (muezzin) for her, and ordered her to lead the members of her household salat (obligitary prayers).

b. Abu Dawud reports that Umm Waraqa said, “I said: O Messenger of God! Permit for me to participate in the raid with you. I'll nurse your sick. Perhaps God will grant me martydom!” He said, “Remain in your house. For verily God will grant you martydom.” And she asked permission to take a mu'adhdhin in her dar (home or neighbourhood). And she allowed her.

Notably, whilst the transmission has a weak link, two of the hadith mutually corroborate each other and this is important; however, for the Maliki school, what was known about the islamic practise in Medina over-ruled any weak hadith; thus the Malikis discounted this evidence and ruled that all women-led forms of worship are prohibited, including when the congregation was solely made up of women, or just women of their own household.

The Shafi'i and Hanafi schools, however, were willing to use these reports and so ruled these forms of worship legal. The Hanbali went one step further and accepted all three reports. They preferred a somewhat reliable report to other forms of legal evidence such as arguing by analogy. Thus Hanbali were willing to argue that women are permitted to lead mixed-gender congregations in special prayers such as the tarawih if she stands behind the men whilst doing so.

According to Ibn Rushd (Averroes), the hadith concering Umm Waraqa is the key evidence supported unrestricted female prayer leadership over men; and it's important to add, that according to Ibn al-Arabi,

"There are those who unconditionally permit women to lead men [in prayer], which is my opinion as well. There are those who completely forbid her from such leadership and there are those who permit her to lead women, but not men. Their reasoning is that the Messenger of God (pbuh) testified that some women attained perfection just as he testified regarding some men - even though the later were more than the former.

This perfection is in reference to prophecy, and prophecy is leadership (imama), thus a women's leadership (in prayer) is sound. The default state is that her leadership is permissible, and one should not listen to those who prohibit it without proof, for there is no text to support their claim, and any evidence they bring forth [is not female specific, and] could include them in the prohibition as well, thereby neutralizing the evidence in this regard, and maintaining the default state of her leadership's permissibility"

Al-Futuhat Al Makiyya

One can ask, given this view, and the divergence with the former, whether women have been disinherited in the Sunni traditions ...