“There was mention in her presence of what interrupts the prayer—the dog, the donkey, and the woman—so ʿAʾishah said: ‘You have likened us to donkeys and dogs! By Allah, I have seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying while I was lying on the couch between him and the qiblah. A need would arise for me, yet I would dislike to sit up and disturb the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so I would slip away from near his feet.’ Another wording states: ‘I would slip away from the side of the couch’s legs until I had withdrawn from beneath my coverlet.’ Ahmad and al-Bayhaqi add: ‘out of dislike for facing him with my face.’ Al-Bukhari records it without the words ‘with my face’; that version is also found in Ahmad. Ahmad (6:200) transmits a third route: Ibn Jurayj related: ʿAtaʾ informed me from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, who reported that ʿAʾishah told him: ‘The Prophet ﷺ used to pray while I was lying crosswise on the couch between him and the qiblah.’ I asked, ‘Was there a wall of the mosque between them?’ She replied, ‘No; it was inside the house, right up to its wall.’ Its chain is sound according to the criteria of the six books. Al-Nawawi comments in Sharh Muslim: ‘ʿAʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—and the scholars after her used this report as evidence that a woman does not interrupt a man’s prayer. It also shows the permissibility of praying toward her, though a number of scholars disliked doing so with anyone other than the Prophet ﷺ, for fear of temptation, recollection, and the distraction of the heart caused by looking at her. As for the Prophet ﷺ, he is free of all that during his prayer; moreover, it was night-time, and in those days houses had no lamps.’ End of quote. I add: the question of lamps is established in another hadith of ʿAʾishah that will appear in a separate section before ‘Rukuʿ.’ As for relying on this hadith as conclusive proof that a woman never interrupts a man’s prayer in any circumstance, that is open to scrutiny.