He said: “There is unanimous agreement that a woman may not lead men in prayer while they know she is a woman; if they nevertheless do so, their prayer is invalid by consensus.”
He said: “It is reported from Ashhab that anyone who follows a woman in prayer without realizing that she is a woman, and only learns of it after the prayer’s time has expired, his prayer is still complete; the same applies to one who follows a disbeliever without knowing that he is a disbeliever. (1)”
I say: According to the well-known position attributed to Ahmad, illiterate men may pray behind a woman who can recite the Qur’an in the night prayer of Ramadan, while for all other supererogatory prayers there are two reports.
He said: “They unanimously agree that placing the head and both feet on the ground during prostration is obligatory. (2)”
I say: What is transmitted from Abū Ḥanīfah is that only the face must touch the ground in prostration; this is also the view of al-Shāfiʿī and one narration from Ahmad. Consequently, if a person were to prostrate on his hands, face, and knees, it would suffice.
He said: “They are unanimously agreed that thinking about worldly matters does not nullify the prayer. (3)”
I say: When such thoughts predominate there is a well-known disagreement; invalidation is the view chosen by Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥāmid and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī.
He said: “Prayer is permissible in every place except inside the Kaʿbah, al-Ḥijr, the roof of the Kaʿbah, camel pens, any place contaminated with impurity, a bathhouse, a graveyard, facing or on top of a grave, property that has been usurped when one can leave it, a location where Islam is mocked, the mosque of dissension, and the land of Thamūd for one who enters it without weeping. (4)”
I say: According to the prevalent view among many—indeed most—of Ahmad’s followers, prayer is invalid in a slaughterhouse, a refuse dump, or the middle of a roadway. The same ruling applies, for the majority of them, to praying in a latrine, even if one selects a clean spot within it.