Asking the female teacher for permission to pray and lowering the gaze from her
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The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. There are two questions. The first question is regarding prayer. One of the brothers mentioned that one should mitigate harm as much as possible. For example, in one of the lectures, the time for prayer arrives, and you wish to ask permission to perform the prayer. Yes. And suppose the lecturer is a woman. The lecturer is a woman. Yes. So you wish to ask her permission, and you also, in order to mitigate harm, do not look at her frequently. Perhaps she asks you, saying, for example, "Why did you not look at me?" So there would be a confrontation with her. And to prevent these confrontations, perhaps you lie, for example, or lie to this woman to mitigate these confrontations. For example, you might say, "I am a Muslim, and Islam encourages me to respect my teacher and the female teacher, and I revere her, and therefore I do not look at you." The truth is that Islam indeed commands this, but it commands respecting the teacher, not that you do not look at the teacher or the female teacher because she is a woman. So you changed the intention. Do you
The Shaykh:
say that he takes a dispensation from her and does not look at her?
The questioner:
No, he
The Shaykh:
says to him, "What are you looking at?" What is his answer?
The questioner:
His answer is that he mitigates harm, for example, and says, "I did not look at you because Islam commands respecting or revering teachers."
The Shaykh:
Yes, no, that answer is not acceptable. But he says to him, "My religion prevents me from that. Our religion forbids looking at women."[An-Nur 24:30] He says, "My religion commands me to lower my gaze from the woman." He explains to her the correct impediment. Yes.
The questioner:
In the Sunnah.
The Shaykh:
And there is no social nicety in matters of religion; there is no social nicety. He says, "My religion prevents this."[An-Nur 24:30] And she has no benefit from you looking at her. What is her benefit from you looking at her? If she calls you to look at her, do not obey her. There is no obedience to a created being in disobedience to the Creator. Yes.
May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. There are two questions. The first question is regarding prayer. One of the brothers mentioned that one should mitigate harm as much as possible. For example, in one of the lectures, the time for prayer arrives, and you wish to ask permission to perform the prayer. Yes. And suppose the lecturer is a woman. The lecturer is a woman. Yes. So you wish to ask her permission, and you also, in order to mitigate harm, do not look at her frequently. Perhaps she asks you, saying, for example, "Why did you not look at me?" So there would be a confrontation with her. And to prevent these confrontations, perhaps you lie, for example, or lie to this woman to mitigate these confrontations. For example, you might say, "I am a Muslim, and Islam encourages me to respect my teacher and the female teacher, and I revere her, and therefore I do not look at you." The truth is that Islam indeed commands this, but it commands respecting the teacher, not that you do not look at the teacher or the female teacher because she is a woman. So you changed the intention. Do you
The Shaykh:
say that he takes a dispensation from her and does not look at her?
The questioner:
No, he
The Shaykh:
says to him, "What are you looking at?" What is his answer?
The questioner:
His answer is that he mitigates harm, for example, and says, "I did not look at you because Islam commands respecting or revering teachers."
The Shaykh:
Yes, no, that answer is not acceptable. But he says to him, "My religion prevents me from that. Our religion forbids looking at women."
Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts
قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْThe questioner:
In the Sunnah.
The Shaykh:
And there is no social nicety in matters of religion; there is no social nicety. He says, "My religion prevents this."
Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them.
قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ ذَٰلِكَ أَزْكَىٰ لَهُمْ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-38-قضايا فقهية - 02|صالح الفوزان|العام|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (3:35)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.