“at night.” He added: “This ḥadith restricts the otherwise general texts; do you not notice ʿĀʾishah’s words: ‘No one could recognise them because of the pre-dawn dimness (al-ghalas)’?”

A third condition is that the women go straight home as soon as they have given salām with the imam, while he remains seated in his place—together with the men behind him—until the women have left. Umm Salamah narrated:

“In the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, when the women completed the obligatory prayer they would stand up at once, whereas the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and whichever of the men wished would stay seated for as long as Allah willed. They regarded this as a means to let the women leave before the men could overtake them, so that they might reach their houses before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed. Once the Messenger of Allah ﷺ rose, the men would rise.”

This report comes from Umm Salamah. It was recorded by al-Bukhārī, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, Ibn Mājah, al-Bayhaqī and Aḥmad through various chains from Ibn Shihāb, who said: “Hind bint al-Ḥārith al-Farāsiyyah told me that Umm Salamah related it to her.” The wording cited here belongs to al-Bukhārī, al-Nasāʾī and Aḥmad. The first additional phrase is supplied by Abū Dāwūd, al-Bayhaqī and Aḥmad, while al-Bukhārī has something similar with the further wording “before the men could overtake them,” and the final addition is also his.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ remarked: “The report shows the imam’s consideration for the circumstances of the congregation and the prudence of avoiding whatever….”