Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

Prayer, one of the important rules of the religion of Islam, is mentioned in many verses in the Qur’an, but detailed information isn’t given on how to perform prayers, except for the names of qiyam, recitation, bowing and prostration. The Prophet has verbally and physically taught and explained to his companions how many rak’ahs there are in different prayers and how the prayer will be performed, what will be read in prayer, what will harm the accuracy of prayer. The Prophet ordered all Muslims to "perform as he is praying" without discriminating between men and women. However, different applications have been transferred from the companions who saw him at different times. In other words, the source of the different application of the rules of prayer is the Messenger of God himself.
The pillars/rules of the prayer are the same for every individual who has the necessary conditions and is a member of the religion of Islam, be it men or women. However, there are some differences in the way men and women pray. These differences, which are known to everyone in terms of application, are manifested in the opening takbir, tying hands while standing up, bowing, prostration and in the tashahhud pillars. The prayers of women are described differently from men in books such as “prayer teacher” and “catechism” which are reference sources for basic religious information. This description can be summarized as the woman practising the pillars of prayers more limitedly than the man. However, the mentioned works do not give detailed information about the source of these differences. In addition, it is seen that the number of women who perform their prayers as men do today is quite high. When prayer worship, which has a social aspect besides its individual dimension, is performed in mosques. The situations witnessed increase the interest in knowing the source of these different practices, and sometimes even cause people to react to each other.
The aim of this study is to determine the source of the difference in the way women pray. As a result of this research, which firstly deals with the determination of the narrations informing about the application of the Prophet(pnuh) related to each pillar within the framework of Kutub-i Sitte, and then the examination of the narrations about the way women perform prayers, we have found rumors about the takbir, prostration and tasahhud of women. On the other hand, about tying the hands and bowing neither marfu nor mawkuf narrations could not be found. The views and evidences of the sects were also not emphasized in the study. In four sects, although the pillars of prayer is the same for men and women, different practices specific to women are mentioned. Although the sects presented different evidence of the woman's prayer, each took the narration of "woman is awrah" as evidence and while expressing opinions on the issues related to the woman's prayer, they mentioned that the أستر لَهَا "(this) is more suitable for her in the hijab". In addition to this expression, the sects also describe the practice of women in same pillars in a way close to the practice of man. However, it is seen that the Hanafi sect has a more detailed description in this regard than others. When the prayer of men and women is compared physically, the widest difference is again seen in Hanefi sources. In the study, the source of the Hanafi sect's description of how women will bow, especially, was tried to be determined and it has been concluded that the Hanafi sect's understanding of the bowing in the Qur’an is consistent with its definition of the bowing of women.