The Ruling on a Woman Traveling to a Land of Disbelief for Training

The questioner : This questioner says: My employer sent my wife to a non-Muslim European country for training for a period of nine months. Due to my work circumstances, I was unable to accompany her, and her brother took her there. He has now returned and will take her back when her training is finished. Is it permissible for her to remain there for this period without a mahram accompanying her? If the answer is no, am I required to force her to return? I trust her completely, and she is a pious, veiled woman, praise be to Allah, and I do not fear for her religion during her stay there. She lives there among Muslim families and is able to manage her own affairs and rely on herself. Please advise us, may Allah reward you with good?

The Shaykh : I see that it is obligatory for you, as her husband, to go and bring her back here. You should limit yourself to the studies available here in the Kingdom, and there is good in them. Going abroad to a land of disbelief is a grave matter. I do not see a person going to a land of disbelief except under three conditions. The first condition is that he has knowledge with which to refute doubts, because there are disbelievers there who raise doubts against Muslims and may mislead them. The second condition is religion with which to resist desires, because those lands are lands of desires If a person does not have strong religion that prevents him from desires, he will slip and perish. The third condition is need, meaning that his going to a land of disbelief is to acquire knowledge and specialization for which there is no equivalent in his Islamic country. If these conditions are met, it is permissible; if one of them is lacking, it is not permissible. It is never possible to build up this world at the expense of the Hereafter, except for one who desires this world—except for one who desires this world—then Allah has turned him to what he turned to. As for one who desires the Hereafter, which is the true life, as Allah the Exalted said meaning that it is the true, great life, and as a person says on the Day of Resurrection it is not possible for him to make this world at the expense of the Hereafter. So I say to my brother, this questioner: Go now, immediately, and warn your wife. The matter is in your hand; you are her husband. She travels where you travel, meaning she travels where you travel, and she resides where you reside. The matter is in your hand. Even the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made the woman with her husband like a captive with the one who captured her.
He said: "Fear Allah regarding women, for they are captives among you," meaning they are in the position of captives. And Allah the Exalted named the husband a master, as He said: "And their master is one degree above them" meaning her husband. So you, my brother, must go to her, bring her back, and convince her, saying: "The Hereafter is better than this world. Return, and what you learned in this country is sufficient for you."