They also instruct a woman, when praying, to keep her limbs close together rather than spread them apart, and to sit cross-legged rather than on a foot laid flat beneath her. During pilgrimage consecration, she should raise her voice only enough for her female companion to hear, and should not climb to the top of al-Safā and al-Marwah. All this is intended to ensure her concealment and protection. She is also forbidden to travel without a husband or an unmarriageable male relative, because she needs men to safeguard her even when she is mature and knowledgeable. How much more so when she is a young girl of discernment who has reached the age when sexual desire awakens, yet remains susceptible to deception! A report states:

“Women are like meat laid on a board, unless it is guarded.”

This analogy indicates that a girl of discernment in such circumstances is among those most in need of safeguarding and protection. Moving back and forth between her parents undermines this: she herself cannot feel settled in any particular place, nor can either parent remain fully committed to safeguarding her.

Furthermore, allowing her to choose one parent at one time and the other at another compromises her full protection and opens the way for her to appear and venture out in public. It is therefore better for her to remain with one parent without being given a choice, as the majority of Muslim scholars have held, including Mālik, Abū Hanīfah, Ahmad, and others. There is neither a scriptural text nor a sound analogy supporting giving her this choice. The distinction between giving her a choice and giving a son a choice is clear, especially since a son is cherished and sought after, whereas a daughter is little valued. One parent may have little interest in her despite her attachment to that parent; how much more so if she has little attachment to that parent! It is therefore better for her to remain with one of them rather than move back and forth between them.

Scholarly judgment is then exercised to determine which parent this should be. Those who designate the mother—such as Mālik, Abū Hanīfah, and Ahmad according to one of the two reported positions—must also take into account whether the mother protects her. For this reason, they stated what Mālik, al-Layth, and others mentioned: if the mother is not in a secure place