How Should I Pray with My Two Young Girls?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I would like to ask how I offer my salat at home with my 12yr and 10yr old girls. Do we all read silently, or one of us can lead the prayer?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

In the Hanafi school, it is disliked for women to pray in the congregation [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

However, if you feel this may result in neglect for the prayer in your children, other schools of thought allow you to pray together in the congregation.

Female Congregation

If you pray in congregation, the Imam must stand in the middle of the other congregants in the same row. It would be preferable to put your oldest daughter on your right side. The Imam will step slightly ahead of the row so that her heels are ahead of the followers. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.