even an outer garment is available to a woman?” He said: “Let her sister provide her with an outer garment of her own.” This emphatically urges women to go out on Eid, even though, regarding Friday prayer and congregational prayer, he said: “Their homes are better for them.” This is because they could pray at home on Friday as on other days, offering the noon prayer. Had the Eid prayer been prescribed for them at home, there would have been no need to urge them so emphatically to go out. Moreover, had that been permissible, women would have done so during his lifetime, just as they offered voluntary prayers. Since no one has reported that any woman—or any man—performed the Eid prayer at home during his lifetime, whereas women went out to the prayer ground at his command, it is clear that this was not part of what he prescribed.

Furthermore, Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him, was told: “There are weak people in the city who cannot go out with you. If only you would appoint someone to lead them in prayer.” So he appointed someone who led them in prayer. Had individuals been able to perform it on their own, there would have been no need for this appointment, for which there was no precedent in the Sunnah. What the Commander of the Faithful, Alī, did thus indicates a distinction between those able to go out to the prayer ground and those unable to do so. Those who are able go out; women are able to go out, so they go out rather than pray on their own. The same applies to travelers who are in town: since they can pray with the imam, they do not pray separately with an imam of their own. This differs from Friday prayer: if they do not perform it, they pray separately; and when they are in their homes, they pray behind an imam, just as they do in the open country. As for someone who is