The Fatwa House in Egypt issued a notice, hours before the Eid al-Adha prayer, on Saturday, that it is not permissible for men and women to pray in one row.
Under the title “Important Notice Regarding Eid Prayers”… The Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa’s account on Facebook published that men praying next to women in one row without a barrier or separator is an explicit violation of the rules of Sharia (it is not permissible).
The account added that praying in this way is also a violation of the laws of maintaining public morals regulating the rules of meeting between men and women in public places.
While the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas clarified a number of “Eid prohibitions,” among them was that “it is not permissible for women to pray alongside men during the Eid prayer.”
While several pictures showed the worshipers’ commitment to the “directions” of the Dar Al Iftaa, users on social media circulated other clips of the Eid prayer showing men next to women, with comments mostly criticizing the phenomenon.
Eid prayer in Egypt!!
Wait for all the new!!! pic.twitter.com/zvmDShJPFx– ABO ANEES (@ mohamed20201952) July 10, 2022
For years, the communication sites in Egypt have been circulating pictures of Eid prayers in the outdoors, showing men praying next to women, in contrast to what is happening with regular prayers in which the sexes are separated.
Three years ago, for example, the newspaper “Al-Youm Al-Sabaa” published that the Egyptian Dar Al-Iftaa “renewed its alerts regarding the Eid prayer.
The Dar Al-Iftaa added, “It is not permissible,” in order to preserve the public morals regulating the rules of meeting between men and women in public places.
In 2018, the “Al-Watan” portal published almost the same warning in text.
Comments on this issue in Egypt have always varied, as one of them said, commenting on the Eid al-Fitr prayer last May, “Men praying next to women. Egypt Gathering?
Men praying next to women. This is a lack of awareness. I am with you… But all the countries of the world appeared in the same view… Hear me out for the gathering of Egypt and we made an offensive tweet.. I understood.. and believe me in every region in Egypt there is a mosque and the Eid prays.
— Amr Beshr (@HHQmh1FarEE8CRB) May 4, 2022
Another said: “In Saudi Arabia, the Eid prayer is the men in the front rows and the women are dedicated to the prayer-place at the end of the rows.. In Egypt, Eid in one of the years, women prayed next to the man with all their adornment, and he is not a mahram for her, neither is her husband, nor her father, nor her brother, not even a space between them, is this from Islam? “?
In Saudi Arabia, the Eid prayer is the men in the front rows, and the women are designated for them as a chapel at the end of the rows. I prayed in Egypt the Eid in one year, the women next to the man with all their adornment, and he is not a mahram for her, whether it is her husband, her father, her brother, not even a space between them. Is this from Islam? Islam does not forbid Eid prayer for women with a legal officer.
– ابو عبدالرحمن (mo nmoqbil1) July 10, 2022
While a tweet on Twitter saw that Eid prayers take place in the squares in Egypt, and with crowds, the situation is like putting worshipers in the Great Mosque of Mecca.” People do not come at one time, but come in groups.
She added that “as the men are embarrassed to break through the lines of the women, they go to another part of the square where they pray, and every man stands next to his family’s daughters, to keep them from cohesion (…)”.