Applications of Fiqh of Easement on Visitors' Fatwas at the Prophet's Mosque

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

Abundant, pure, blessed praise.

He completed the religion for us and perfected the blessing on us.

He approved Islam as religion for us.

And I bear witness there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner.

He has not imposed on us in religion.

Any hardship.

And He intended ease for us and did not intend hardship for us.

And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

He was sent with the upright and tolerant faith.

And if given a choice of two matters he chose the easier unless it was sinful.

ﷺ.

And upon his family and his noble, blessed Companions.

And upon his wives, the Mothers of the Believers, and the Followers.

And those who followed them with excellence until Judgment Day. To proceed.

Indeed, discussing applications of fiqh of ease in fatwas for women visitors.

requires mentioning the concept.

The concept of facilitation and stating its criterion.

Then moving on to these applications.

So I will mention the concept and the criterion briefly.

The concept of facilitation, and of ease, is that the servant complies.

Commands and prohibitions without hardship beyond the ordinary.

And its criterion is the Sharia, not whim.

For the Sharia came to move people from self-will to God's will in practice.

the pleasure of their Lord ﷻ.

Accordingly, the mufti strives to realize this great objective.

Ease in the Sharia is of two kinds.

An inherent ease.

It encompasses the whole Sharia in its foundations and branches.

Allah ﷻ said, "He has not placed upon you in the religion any hardship."

And He said, "Allah intends ease for you."

"He does not intend hardship for you."

And the Prophet ﷺ said: "This religion is easy."

And the second type.

It is incidental, partial ease that comes to relieve undue hardship.

And the applications fall under both types together.

And modern analogues are measured against both.

And I focused these applications on women visitors to the Prophet's Mosque.

Without discussing ease in the rulings of Hajj and Umrah.

That has its own subject; it has been discussed.

It is a vast sea with many issues.

I will discuss these applications through their main points and principles.

so they become clear.

The proof for these applications is clear, and their meaning is evident.

The first of these principles is that ease.

in religion's roots and branches alike.

And very often.

When ease is discussed, the mind often turns to religion's branches

while overlooking the ease in the Sharia's foundations.

Indeed, tawhid and following the Sunnah are ease, comfort, and peace.

And the fatwas are based

upon the Book of Allah ﷻ and the Sunnah of His Prophet ﷺ.

according to the understanding of the righteous predecessors.

This noble meaning is instilled.

Then comfort, ease, and tranquility are attained.

And this, praise be to Allah,

This comes through the blessed efforts of our brothers.

The muftis and guides in this noble Prophet's Mosque and al-Masjid al-Haram.

The opposite of that lies in shirk and bid'ah.

And leaving the Prophet's ﷺ guidance is hardship and division.

And disagreement and no peace of mind.

And the fatwas of the people of whims and innovations.

lead people to extreme hardship and difficulty, away from Allah ﷻ.

The second point.

That ease applies to men and women.

However, for women, ease is even greater and more abundant.

in consideration of her condition.

And this is among the beauties of the radiant Sharia.

for it considered a woman's condition and granted her ease.

more so than for men. For example:

No personal jihad is required of them, nor Jumu'ah nor jama'ah.

And among the applications of this ease in this mosque and other mosques

What is best for a woman is to pray in her home.

And she must not be barred from the houses of Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ said, as Abu Dawud reported.

Do not prevent Allah's maidservants from Allah's mosques.

But let them go out without perfume, i.e. not perfumed.

And in another narration: "Do not prevent women from the mosques."

"Do not prevent women from mosques. Their homes are better for them."

And this is part of that ease.

As stated by our Prophet ﷺ, this is clear in two ways.

The first aspect.

That her prayer in her home is better for her.

And in this is ease for her.

And protection and safeguarding for her.

And if.

The second aspect of ease is that if she wishes to go to the mosque.

then her guardian should not prevent her.

For the Prophet ﷺ said, Do not bar Allah's women from His mosques.

So it fulfills this desire for her.

subject to its condition: that she go out unadorned.

For his ﷺ saying: "But let them go out unperfumed."

And another facilitation is that the reward.

She receives it while she is at home.

Even this multiplied reward.

is granted to her many times over.

whenever she wished to pray in the Prophet's Mosque—and then.

Then she left that and prayed at home.

And he was asked.

the eminent Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz RH, about prayer.

Should the optional prayer be prayed in the Prophet's Mosque or at home?

He replied that the texts are general in scope.

So praying at home is better.

And the texts on that concur.

He also said that one receives the multiplied reward.

If he prays it in his house, in his dwelling.

Along with the added reward for following the Sunnah.

And we also say this applies to the woman too, by Allah's help ﷻ.

And this is from Allah's favor upon her.

And an aspect of ease is that prescribed gathering in worship helps.

obedience, removing the hardship of worship or lessening it.

For worship must entail some degree of hardship.

And prescribed gathering in worship helps lessen that.

Therefore Allah ﷻ prescribed congregational prayer.

And prescribed fasting and prescribed.

The Hajj. And part of that, Allah knows best.

is that she is not prevented from coming.

to the mosque to ease worship for her.

Many women become energized when, say, they pray Taraweeh with women.

besides the good in attending the mosque and Muslims' supplication.

And the Prophet ﷺ stated this clearly.

in instructing women to go out for the prayer.

Eid—even Umm 'Atiyyah said.

He even instructed young women, secluded women, and menstruating women.

He ordered menstruating women to avoid the prayer area.

And he ﷺ said, “Let them witness good and the Muslims' supplication.”

The good and the Muslims' supplication.

This confirms a woman's attendance at these beneficial gatherings.

There is much good in it.

That includes learning the Qur'an and teaching it.

and reading it and teaching its recitation in this blessed mosque.

And among matters related to this aspect.

Even if a menstruating woman is barred from entering the mosque.

There is no harm in her being in its courtyard. For this reason.

This courtyard surrounding the Prophet's Mosque.

Apparently, it does not have the ruling of the mosque.

Even if it were enclosed by this wall.

This wall was not built to incorporate this courtyard into the mosque. Therefore.

I'tikaf is not observed there; I'tikaf there is not valid.

Thus.

If she comes and it is easy for her to hear

the sermons and lessons, that is a great good.

Praise and favor be to Allah.

And this specifically indicates the courtyard is not part of the mosque.

Ibn Battah narrated with a chain from Aishah (RA), Abu Bakr (RA)'s daughter:

We were in i'tikaf, and when we menstruated, the Prophet ﷺ ordered.

leave the mosque.

And have tents pitched for them in the courtyard until they became pure.

And among the features of ease.

Please conclude, Shaykh.

I'll conclude. Another aspect of facilitation.

This includes respecting local customs.

Especially regarding clothing.

Women's clothing differs from one country to another.

And fatwa authorities in these lands don't require women to wear.

A specific color or a specific style.

What matters is that the clothing conforms to Sharia guidelines.

Another facilitation is easing access to fatwa.

by obtaining fatwa from qualified sisters.

in the women's areas, and this is available to them.

With praise to Allah ﷻ and His tawfiq.

And this is something for which

this blessed Presidency is thanked.

May Allah reward everyone for listening attentively.

And thank you, Your Excellency, Mr. President. May Allah bless you.