Is it permissible, in the interest of public benefit, for a woman to study at a co-educational university, provided there are certain regulations?
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The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. What you said is correct, but perhaps someone might say:
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : It is true that free mixing is forbidden, but Islamic interest necessitates it, because we are now, praise be to Allah, striving to establish an Islamic state. We need personnel, female teachers, female doctors, and women who work in jobs related to women.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : So, in the interest of public benefit, do we permit a woman to study at the university, but with certain regulations? For example, among the regulations some of the brothers see is that she leaves her house accompanied by either her mahram (a relative one may not marry) or that she is veiled and accompanied by some women. Then she sits in the last rows of the hall, at the back of the hall, with no men behind them. When the lecture ends, she takes herself and leaves.
The Shaykh : Well, what about the break...?
The questioner : If there is a break, meaning that they remain either in the hall or go out to another place, meaning there is no free mixing or crowding between men and women.
The Shaykh : Well, let us ask a question: The entrance to the classroom, which we call the "class" in Syria, does it have two doors or one door?
The questioner : It varies from hall to hall.
The Shaykh : Meaning, many of the rooms have only one door.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So, will the women and men enter through this door?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Well, how is the guarantee in this? And this reminds me of something else, glory be to Allah, that came to my mind just now. When the ideas and examples gathered in my mind, an example came to mind among what came to mind, and I forgot it, and nothing made me forget it except Satan. When you made me need to ask you whether the class has one entrance, one door, or more than one door, I remembered that example which I had forgotten. It is mentioned in Sunan Abu Dawud with a valid chain from Nafi' from Ibn Umar: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered one day from one of the doors of the mosque," which is still known today as the Women's Door, "The Messenger (peace be upon him) entered from this door with Ibn Umar, and he said, encouraging us, 'If we would leave this door for the women,' if we would leave this door for the women. Nafi' said: 'So Abdullah ibn Umar did not enter the mosque from this door until he died.'" This is not to be adopted in such a university at all, and it cannot be imposed. What I mentioned just now relates to a girl in her person; it is possible to guarantee this, for example, that she does not go out alone. But the reality is that the organization of the university building has never taken into account these barriers and these boundaries that the Wise Lawgiver has established. And therefore, however much precaution is taken in the matter, it appears that free mixing is a reality from which there is no escape. This is one thing. The second thing, O our brothers: We hear such justifications, meaning we want to establish a Muslim state and we need educated women, and we need female doctors, and we need female guides, and so on. But, glory be to Allah! If one woman is harmed in her honor because of transgressing these barriers and means that the Lawgiver has placed before her, that is enough to demolish all these justifications. Do you understand my words? Then, if I am jealous for my wife, the young university student, and I am jealous that she enters a university and a young man sees her and winks at her and she winks at him, and so on, and what the Messenger (peace be upon him) pointed to comes true, God forbid, even with one woman. If this does not happen to my wife, it may happen to my daughter. If it does not happen to my wife and my daughter, it will happen, God forbid, to your wife and your daughter. What happened to these Muslims is that they must be harmed in their honor because of their transgression of the limits of Allah. Therefore, I do not see such excuses as justifying the commission of what contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). I say, for example, indeed we need female doctors, and no sane person doubts this, and we always repeat that it is not permissible for a woman, if she is forced to give birth in a hospital, to be examined by a male doctor; rather, the doctor must be a female doctor. We know this and that it is necessary, and that the matter is as the jurists say: "Necessities permit the prohibited," but "necessity is measured by its extent." But what is the difference between saying that we allow this pregnant woman to go to the hospital and be treated by the doctor, where the necessity is direct in this case, and allowing the girl to sit with the doctor during the exercise, herself with himself, and perhaps in the same room, and saying: This is necessary because we want female doctors, we want female nurses? It is true, but this is not the way. So, what is the solution to the problem? I have an answer: We know that not all Muslims and Muslim women are at the same level in responding to the rulings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And this is observed, for example, in the hijab, where there is no pressure from the ruling system, whatever system it is. Most women are undressed. So, it is inevitable that there will be a type of women who do not adhere to this fatwa and do not adhere to these etiquettes, and they will say that this is extremism in religion and this is regression, and words like that. So, let this type of women, who do not respond to the rulings of Allah, be the scapegoat. And let the scapegoat not be my wife and my sister, and your wife and your sister. After that, the problem is solved, because we will say: These women, the doctors and nurses who were the scapegoats, they will be the teachers of our committed and veiled women. So the problem is removed. I hope the matter has become clear, if Allah wills?
The questioner : The matter has become clear.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : It is true that free mixing is forbidden, but Islamic interest necessitates it, because we are now, praise be to Allah, striving to establish an Islamic state. We need personnel, female teachers, female doctors, and women who work in jobs related to women.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : So, in the interest of public benefit, do we permit a woman to study at the university, but with certain regulations? For example, among the regulations some of the brothers see is that she leaves her house accompanied by either her mahram (a relative one may not marry) or that she is veiled and accompanied by some women. Then she sits in the last rows of the hall, at the back of the hall, with no men behind them. When the lecture ends, she takes herself and leaves.
The Shaykh : Well, what about the break...?
The questioner : If there is a break, meaning that they remain either in the hall or go out to another place, meaning there is no free mixing or crowding between men and women.
The Shaykh : Well, let us ask a question: The entrance to the classroom, which we call the "class" in Syria, does it have two doors or one door?
The questioner : It varies from hall to hall.
The Shaykh : Meaning, many of the rooms have only one door.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So, will the women and men enter through this door?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Well, how is the guarantee in this? And this reminds me of something else, glory be to Allah, that came to my mind just now. When the ideas and examples gathered in my mind, an example came to mind among what came to mind, and I forgot it, and nothing made me forget it except Satan. When you made me need to ask you whether the class has one entrance, one door, or more than one door, I remembered that example which I had forgotten. It is mentioned in Sunan Abu Dawud with a valid chain from Nafi' from Ibn Umar: "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered one day from one of the doors of the mosque," which is still known today as the Women's Door, "The Messenger (peace be upon him) entered from this door with Ibn Umar, and he said, encouraging us, 'If we would leave this door for the women,' if we would leave this door for the women. Nafi' said: 'So Abdullah ibn Umar did not enter the mosque from this door until he died.'" This is not to be adopted in such a university at all, and it cannot be imposed. What I mentioned just now relates to a girl in her person; it is possible to guarantee this, for example, that she does not go out alone. But the reality is that the organization of the university building has never taken into account these barriers and these boundaries that the Wise Lawgiver has established. And therefore, however much precaution is taken in the matter, it appears that free mixing is a reality from which there is no escape. This is one thing. The second thing, O our brothers: We hear such justifications, meaning we want to establish a Muslim state and we need educated women, and we need female doctors, and we need female guides, and so on. But, glory be to Allah! If one woman is harmed in her honor because of transgressing these barriers and means that the Lawgiver has placed before her, that is enough to demolish all these justifications. Do you understand my words? Then, if I am jealous for my wife, the young university student, and I am jealous that she enters a university and a young man sees her and winks at her and she winks at him, and so on, and what the Messenger (peace be upon him) pointed to comes true, God forbid, even with one woman. If this does not happen to my wife, it may happen to my daughter. If it does not happen to my wife and my daughter, it will happen, God forbid, to your wife and your daughter. What happened to these Muslims is that they must be harmed in their honor because of their transgression of the limits of Allah. Therefore, I do not see such excuses as justifying the commission of what contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). I say, for example, indeed we need female doctors, and no sane person doubts this, and we always repeat that it is not permissible for a woman, if she is forced to give birth in a hospital, to be examined by a male doctor; rather, the doctor must be a female doctor. We know this and that it is necessary, and that the matter is as the jurists say: "Necessities permit the prohibited," but "necessity is measured by its extent." But what is the difference between saying that we allow this pregnant woman to go to the hospital and be treated by the doctor, where the necessity is direct in this case, and allowing the girl to sit with the doctor during the exercise, herself with himself, and perhaps in the same room, and saying: This is necessary because we want female doctors, we want female nurses? It is true, but this is not the way. So, what is the solution to the problem? I have an answer: We know that not all Muslims and Muslim women are at the same level in responding to the rulings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And this is observed, for example, in the hijab, where there is no pressure from the ruling system, whatever system it is. Most women are undressed. So, it is inevitable that there will be a type of women who do not adhere to this fatwa and do not adhere to these etiquettes, and they will say that this is extremism in religion and this is regression, and words like that. So, let this type of women, who do not respond to the rulings of Allah, be the scapegoat. And let the scapegoat not be my wife and my sister, and your wife and your sister. After that, the problem is solved, because we will say: These women, the doctors and nurses who were the scapegoats, they will be the teachers of our committed and veiled women. So the problem is removed. I hope the matter has become clear, if Allah wills?
The questioner : The matter has become clear.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.