Men Teaching Women Without a Hijab
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Fatwa No. ( 17929 )
Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. And after: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from the questioners: the president and members of the Sharia Association in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at
Kuwait University . It was referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars with number (1202) and date 11/3/1416 AH. The questioners asked a question, the text of which is: Is it permissible for a male professor to teach female students without a hijab between him and them, such that they see him and he sees them, even if he does not see the faces of most of them most of the time because they are wearing head coverings? And is it permissible for a female student to come to his office and speak to him without a hijab, although he does not see her face most of the time? She sits in his office on a chair and exchanges conversation with him regarding studies and other matters, without a mahram with her or with a female classmate, and he explains the lesson to them or answers their questions related to lectures or other matters? Knowing that this can be done via telephone, and that some professors are still young in age or have entered the beginning of middle age, and the female students are mostly young girls.
After the Committee’s study of the question, it answered as follows: First: The mixing of men and women in schools or elsewhere is among the great evils and the major harms in religion and worldly life, so it is not permissible for a woman to study or work in a place where men and women are mixed, and it is not permissible for her guardian to allow her to do so. Second: It is not permissible for a man to teach a woman who is not wearing a hijab, and it is not permissible for him to teach her in seclusion with her, even if she is wearing a Sharia-compliant hijab, and the woman
is entirely 'awrah (nakedness) to a non-mahram man, whereas covering the head and showing the face is not a complete hijab. Third: There is no harm in a man teaching a woman from behind a hijab in schools exclusively for women, where there is no mixing between male and female students, nor between the teacher and the female students. If they need to communicate with him, it should be through closed communication networks, which are known and available, or via telephone, but the female students must be warned against khudu' (submissiveness) in speech by softening and beautifying their words. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. And after: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from the questioners: the president and members of the Sharia Association in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at
Kuwait University . It was referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars with number (1202) and date 11/3/1416 AH. The questioners asked a question, the text of which is: Is it permissible for a male professor to teach female students without a hijab between him and them, such that they see him and he sees them, even if he does not see the faces of most of them most of the time because they are wearing head coverings? And is it permissible for a female student to come to his office and speak to him without a hijab, although he does not see her face most of the time? She sits in his office on a chair and exchanges conversation with him regarding studies and other matters, without a mahram with her or with a female classmate, and he explains the lesson to them or answers their questions related to lectures or other matters? Knowing that this can be done via telephone, and that some professors are still young in age or have entered the beginning of middle age, and the female students are mostly young girls.
After the Committee’s study of the question, it answered as follows: First: The mixing of men and women in schools or elsewhere is among the great evils and the major harms in religion and worldly life, so it is not permissible for a woman to study or work in a place where men and women are mixed, and it is not permissible for her guardian to allow her to do so. Second: It is not permissible for a man to teach a woman who is not wearing a hijab, and it is not permissible for him to teach her in seclusion with her, even if she is wearing a Sharia-compliant hijab, and the woman
is entirely 'awrah (nakedness) to a non-mahram man, whereas covering the head and showing the face is not a complete hijab. Third: There is no harm in a man teaching a woman from behind a hijab in schools exclusively for women, where there is no mixing between male and female students, nor between the teacher and the female students. If they need to communicate with him, it should be through closed communication networks, which are known and available, or via telephone, but the female students must be warned against khudu' (submissiveness) in speech by softening and beautifying their words. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.