The evidence for this is the hadith of Anas ibn Malik, who said that he and an orphan prayed behind the Prophet, while a woman prayed behind them. (1) This indicates that it is valid for a woman to pray alone behind the row. This is added to the evidence of the majority, who hold that the prayer of one standing alone behind the row is valid. They too cited this hadith, saying: A woman’s prayer behind the row is valid, and the basic principle is that men and women are equal in rulings.

However, this can readily be answered by saying: A woman has no place among the rows of men at all, for the Shariah aims to keep men separate from women, even in places of worship. Hence the Prophet said, “The best rows for women are the last of them,” (2) because they are farther from the men. Yet it does provide evidence for the stronger view: that the prayer of one standing alone behind the row is valid when the row is complete. For the woman’s prayer alone behind the men is valid only because it is legally impossible for her to stand with them; and when the row is complete, standing in it is physically impossible.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that there is no distinction between a woman praying with a congregation of men and praying with a congregation of women. But this apparent meaning is not what he intends. Rather, a woman among a congregation of women is like a man among a congregation of men: it is not valid for her to stand behind their female imam, nor behind a row of women. Rather, when they are women, she must stand in the row; her prayer is not valid if she stands alone behind the row or behind the female imam.

His statement, “The female imam stands within their row,” means that when women pray