It is offensive for an attractive or young woman to come to the mosque to pray

GROUP PRAYER

f12.1 Group prayer is a communal obligation (def:c3.2) upon all male non-travellers for the five current prescribed prayers, such that the rite of the prayer be public. (O: In a small town, it is enough to merely gather somewhere and pray. In a city, the prayer must be held in public places such that the manifestations of obedience to Allah's command are evident. If held in houses where the rite of prayer is not public, the obligation remains unfulfilled (A: though a house with a sign on it is sufficient).)

f12.2 Group prayer is sunna for women, travellers, and for makeup prayers in which the imam and followers are performing the same type of prayer; though it is not sunna for a follower's makeup prayer to be performed behind an imam's current prescribed prayer, or for a makeup prayer to be performed behind a different type of makeup (O: such as a follower making up the noon prayer (zuhr) behind an imam who is making up the midafternoon prayer ('asr)).

f12.3 It is personally obligatory to perform the Friday prayer (jumu'a) in a group (A: for every male Muslim who is not travelling).

f12.4 The group prayer for which the demand is the strongest is the dawn prayer (subh), then the nightfall prayer ('isha), and then the midafternoon prayer ('isha), and then the midafternoon prayer ('asr).

The minimal number of people for a group prayer is an imam and a follower.

It is best for men to perform group prayer at the mosque (O: as the act of going to the mosque makes the group prayer evident). The best mosque in which to pray is the one with the most people. If there is a nearby mosque attended by few people, then it is better to go to a distant one attended by more, unless the imam there commits reprehensible innovations (bid'a def:w29.3), is immoral, does not consider one of the integrals of the prayer to be an integral (n: though this does not matter if it is the result of the imam's following a different school of jurisprudence, as below at f12.29(N:)), or if one's going to the farther mosque will make group prayer impossible at the one nereby (A: as when one is one of the only two people who are likely to come), in all of which cases it is better to pray at the nearby mosque.

It is better for women to pray at home than at the mosque (A; whether they are young or old). It is offensive for an attractive or young woman to come to the mosque to pray (O: or for her husband to permit her), though not offensive for women who are not young or attractive when this is unlikely to cause temptation. (N: The author's words here must be interpreted in the light of the following details: If a woman's going to group prayer or elsewhere will definitely lead to temptation between the sexes, it is unlawful for her to go. If such temptation can be definitely prevented, her going to attend group prayer remains sunna, as is attested to by the hadiths that have reached us on the subject. If temptation is feared but not certain to occur, her going becomes offensive. Whether such temptation is likely to occur is something that differs with different times, places, and people. An old woman is not like a young one, nor a righteous society like one in which temptation between the sexes is the rule; nor is a special prayer place set aside for women at a mosque like a prayer place which they share with men. This is why 'A'isha(Allah be well pleased with her) said.

"Had the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) seen what women do now, he would have forbidden them the mosque as the women of Banu Isra'il were forbidden." a hadith reported Bukhari and Muslim.

The temptation between the sexes whose occurrence is to be feared when they intermingle is of various degrees, the least of which is a person's appreciating and admiring the other , then being attracted to enamored with the other, and finally, those indecencies which are not hidden from anyone. Islam is eager to eliminate evil at its inception and extirpate temptation from its outset, and the word of Allah Most High.

"Tell believers to lower their eyes and to guard their private parts"(Koran 24:30),

explains both the starting point and final outcome of the temptation of men through women and the temptation of women through men.)