wishes to go to the mosque to pray with the Muslims. This view is the correct one.

What supports this is that when Ibn Umar related this hadith, his son Bilal said to him, “By Allah, we will surely prevent them,” because he had seen the temptations and the changing conditions. Aishah had also said, “Had the Prophet seen of women what we have seen, he would have prevented them, just as the women of the Children of Israel were prevented.” (1) When he said, “By Allah, we will surely prevent them,” Abdullah turned to him and rebuked him with such severe abuse as he had never used against him before. He said to him, “I tell you that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Do not prevent Allah’s female servants,’ and you say, ‘By Allah, we will surely prevent them’?” (2) So he boycotted him. This was because it constituted opposition to the words of the Messenger ﷺ, and that is a grave matter. The veneration the early generations had for the words of Allah and His Messenger was unmatched by that of anyone among the later generations.

This action of Ibn Umar indicates that preventing them is unlawful.

However, if times have changed, a person should persuade his family not to go out, so that they will not go out and he himself will be safe from committing what the Messenger ﷺ prohibited.

His statement, “if a woman asks permission,” includes both the young woman and the elderly woman, the beautiful woman and the unattractive woman.

His statement, “to the mosque,” indicates that if she asked permission for something other than that