WHERE SHOULD I STAND WHEN PRAYING WITH MY HUSBAND?

WHERE SHOULD I STAND WHEN PRAYING WITH MY HUSBAND? smile emoticon

Ok there are 3 Scenarios

1st SCENARIO
You and your husband are praying on your own. Your husband is not leading you in the prayer.
Answer
If each of them is praying on his or her own, then wife may stand wherever she wants, next to her husband or in front of him or behind him, because there is no connection between their prayers.

2nd SCENARIO
Your husband is leading you in the prayer.
Answer
But if she is following him in prayer, then she should stand behind him as is indicated by the Sunnah. Al-Bukhaari (380) and Muslim (658) narrated from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that his grandmother Mulaykah invited the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to eat some food that she had made. He ate some of it, then he said: “Get up and I will lead you in prayer.” Anas ibn Maalik said: I went to a reed mat of ours that had turned black from long use, and sprinkled it with water, then the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stood on it, and the orphan and I stood behind him, and the old lady behind us, and the Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) led us in praying two rak‘ahs, then he left..

3rd SCENARIO
If husband and wife are praying together following an Imam.
Answer
The Husband should be behind Imam and the wife behind husband. So the succession would be Imam > Husband > Wife.
But if husband and wife pray parallel behind Imam that is allowed as well. The only Madhab which does not allow this is "Hanafi"

So one scenario is Imam > Husband > Wife
Second Scenario is Imam > Husand + Wife ( parallel or standing beside each other)

If a man and a woman pray together behind one imam, or the men and women pray behind one imam, the Sunnah is for the women to pray behind the men. But if the woman prays alongside the man in that case, the prayer is valid for both according to the majority of scholars, because there is no proof to indicate that it is invalidated.

The Hanafis are of the view that if a woman prays beside men without a barrier, that invalidates the prayer of three of the men: one on her right, one on her left and the third behind her, according to the conditions that they mentioned. But their opinion is not valid because there is no evidence to that effect.

EXTRA SCENARIO
Some sisters have this question. Ok if my husband is leading me and I have to stand behind him should I stand completely behind him?
Answer
You can stand beside him but your husband should atleast be a "foot" ahead.

It is best for her to stand completely behind her husband, though it is valid, according to the relied upon opinion, as long as his heel is in front of hers.

It is not disliked for a man to pray in congregation with his wife alone. In fact, the basic reward of praying in congregation is attained in this way. It is better, for the man, to pray in congregation with his wife than alone if he misses congregational prayer in the mosque.

This is very useful for people whose work schedule makes them miss maghrib or isha in the mosque; they should make arrangements with their spouses to pray together. However, the fuqaha caution that this would be blameworthy to make a habit without excuse, as it is expected of Muslim men that they pray at the mosque.

Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) related that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “If people knew what [reward] there is in the call to prayer and the first row, and then they found no way but to draw ots [to attain them], they would have drawn lots. And if they knew what [reward] there is in being early, they would have raced each other to it. And if they knew what [reward] there is in the night prayer [isha] and dawn prayer, they would come to it, even if crawling.” [Bukhari 580, and elsewhere]

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The above 4 questions and answers refer to FARD SALAAH

About Sunnah salaah it is better to pray by your ownself.
Wife prayers separately and husband separately. You can pray Sunnah in congregation as well. But it is superior to pray it alone.

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ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT
So your husband prays at masjid. He has finished his fard at masjid. Please concentrate and read properly this is tricky.
He comes home and leads you in Jamah offering his "sunnah". But did you know this amazing ruling?
You can complete your fard behind someone who is offering their sunnah in a Jamah. This is amazing and very beneficial for sisters at home since they will get the reward of offering fard in Jamah.
So I will break it down again.
Your husband is leading you in Salaah at home offering his sunnah but behind him you can pray your fard + get reward of praying in congregation.
Did you get it? He is doing sunnah but behind him you can do your fard - subhanAllah.

IMPORTANT : All the above apply to husband and wife only and/or Mahram relationships. A man cannot lead a single non mahram woman all alone. That is haraam.

And Allah knows best.