Mustafa ERTÜRK / On A Report that Woman’s Leading Men in Prayer (Salat) and Its Value of Reference

Abstract: It is allegedly reported that in Ibn Sa‘d’s al-Tabaqat al-Kubra and in some other Is-lamic sources, Umm Waraqa bint Abdillah, an Ansari woman who was well versed in the Qur’an, was instructed by the Prophet Muhammad to lead ahl dariha (the people of Umm Waraqa’s home) which consisted of both men and women, in prayer. It is said that the Prophet Muhammad appointed a muezzin for her… This report was/is taken into consideration as au-thentic (sahih) without searching its isnad by some Muslim scholars to support their opinion about that a woman may lead both men and women in prayer. This article focuses on the ques-tion of whether this report can be taken as a reference in terms of its isnad. If we look into this report’s isnad (chain), we may certainly conclude that the report of Umm Waraqa is not reliable for basing a judgement on the possibility of a woman`s imamat for both men and women in prayer.

Citation: Mustafa ERTÜRK, “Kadinin Erkeklere Namaz Kildirabilecegine Dair Bir Rivayet ve Referans Degeri” (in Turkish), Hadis Tetkikleri Dergisi (HTD), III/1, 2005, pp. 91-106.

Key words: Umm Waraqa, imamat of woman in prayer, value of isnad (chain), equality of women and men, secularity of Islam, European Union.

  

2003,I,1

2003,I,2

2004,II,1

2004,II,2

2005,III,1

2005,III,2

2006,IV,1

2006,IV,2

2007,I,1