Can Women Fold Their Hands Like Men in Prayer?

Can women fold their hands like men in prayer?

It is sunnah to fold hands in prayer in a way to put the right hand on top of the left hand (Bukhari, Adhan 87; Muslim, Salat 54; Abu Dawud, Salat 122; Tirmidhi, Salat 75; Ibn Majah, Iqamat al-Salat 3). However, there are different narratives about the place of this folding. Men fold their hands under their belly in some schools, on their chest or between chest and belly in some others, depending on these narratives as well as the practices of the Companions and Successors (tabi’un).

Women fold their hands on their chest as agreed by the scholars who claimed that it is sunnah to fold hands in prayer. This way of folding is interpreted as a more suitable behavior to the essense of Islamic dressing in terms of the body structure of women. This interpretation and the longstanding practice allow us to claim that this was the case in Prophet Muhammad’s (saw) period as well (Mawsili, al-Ikhtiyar, I, 163-164; Tahanawi, I‘la’ as-sunan, II, 669-675). As the opinions on the place for folding hands in prayer are not among the issues regarding the essence of prayer, the prayer of a person who acts according to any of these opinions will not be invalidated.

Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWAS