Abstract
Muslim women in Türkiye adhering to the Hanafi legal school of thought attend Tarawih congregational prayers in Ramadan. This practice apparently contradicts the Hanafi jurisprudential ruling that almost prohibits and strongly discourages women (makruh karahah tahrimiyyah) from congregational prayers.
Nevertheless, this contradiction inspired this study to undertake a comparative reading of two Hanafi substantive law texts, the sixth century hijri Al-Hidayah Sharh Bidayat al-Mubtadi and its ninth century hijri Commentary, the Al-Binayah Sharh al-Hidayah. It undertakes a comparative reading to follow the evolution and logic of Hanafi law on the question of women’s participation in congregational prayers. To understand how Islamic legal traditions adapt to changing social conditions while maintaining doctrinal coherence, offering insights into the complex interplay between textual authority, jurisprudential reasoning, and lived religious practice.
Employing Wittgenstein's theory of language games as a theoretical framework, the research reveals how legal meanings are constructed and adapted within specific cultural and historical contexts. The analysis will demonstrate that while the author of the Al-Hidayah Burhan al-Din Al-Marghinani (d. 593 hijri) employed age-based differentiations and strategic accommodations for managing fitnah (moral temptation), the author of the Al-Binayah Badr al-Din Al-'Ayni (d. 855 hijri) adopted a more restrictive approach. The latter argued for transforming discouraged (makruh) practices into prohibited (haram) ones based on his assessment of contemporary social corruption.
This study is not about the contemporary Turkish context with women attending Tarawih congregational prayers notwithstanding the existing historical Hanafi ruling strongly discouraging to the point prohibiting women’s presence in congregational prayers. That said, it does place its reading of the two Hanafi substantial texts within an awareness and acknowledging of movements in contemporary Türkiye, for example the Women in Mosques (WIM) movement, that challenge patriarchal spatial arrangements. .
The dissertation concludes with recommendations for future research on the intersection of Islamic law, gender, and contemporary religious practice, emphasizing the need for methodologically sophisticated approaches that honour both classical scholarship and modern feminist perspectives.