Guidelines for the Exit and Work of the Female Doctor and Teacher

The Shaykh : Now, let us consider a woman who leaves her home to go to her clinic. Is she, in her exit from the home to the clinic, going out with the Shari'ah hijab? We say: Yes. We have seen many women here who wear the Shari'ah hijab, but this is not sufficient. Are there among the women those who specialize in treating women only? Just as we ask: Are there among the men those who specialize in treating men only, without treating women? Note that it is forbidden for a man to expose a woman's 'awrah except out of necessity. So if there is a female doctor, there is no necessity for a man to expose a woman's 'awrah. Likewise, the reverse is exactly the same. This female doctor who goes out to her clinic: has she specialized her clinic for women only, to help them so that they do not expose their bodies to be examined by men? If so, I say that this exit is not only permissible, but it is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). However, I am emphasizing that from the moment she leaves her home until she returns to her home, she should not be exposed to any evil that contradicts the Shari'ah. One of the clear evils is that women treat men and men treat women. So what benefit have we gained from these risks that some Muslims tolerate by exposing their women to them? What benefit have we gained if the woman returns to treating men, and the men continue to treat men and women? We have gained nothing except the earnest pursuit of earning the dirham and the dinar. This is one example. Another example: the woman goes out to teach. It is said what was said about the doctor: Does she first teach a subject that conforms to the Shari'ah, or, for example, does she teach fine arts? And she teaches image-making, and she teaches sports that expose the girls to revealing something of their 'awrah, even if it is in front of each other, as we mentioned earlier. It is not permissible for young women to expose themselves in front of their peers except for what was mentioned earlier in detail and clarification. So, merely going out for a need is permissible, but it should be restricted by the etiquettes of the Shari'ah from the moment of exit to the return. As for the argument of some of them that she goes out for her job: now we have left medicine and left what? Teaching and education. Now, the job. Here the big problem is completed. The jobs that women undertake today in many Arab countries, there is no necessity, nor even a pressing need, for women to perform them and to leave their homes for them. Because if we do not say that all the jobs that women perform can be performed by men, if we do not say all, then at least the majority of those jobs. As for the argument that she goes out to earn a livelihood, this is a purely European material argument. Because this woman who goes out to her job with the aforementioned argument is either a married woman, in which case her husband is responsible for her, responsible for her maintenance, feeding, clothing, and housing, and it is not required of her except to live as a princess ruling in her home. Or she is a daughter, in which case her guardian is her brother, or her father, or any mahram among her mahrams, if no closer guardian remains to her, such as the father and the brother. So what is this argument that some women cling to, that they go out in the way of earning a livelihood? Islamically, the woman is not obligated to go out to work except in narrow and very narrow circumstances. But for her exit to become a routine, as they say today, meaning a habit for earning a livelihood as is the case for the man, this is in fact a form of imitation (tashabbuh) that the general Muslims today do not notice: the imitation of women by men. She goes out of her home as the man goes out, so she is free and unrestrained as the man goes out, with no supervisor and no guard. This is the "tarjal" (masculine behavior) that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas: , and in the other hadith: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the masculine women." So the woman who has the boldness to face men, mix with them, and enter among them in the markets, in the societies, and in the universities, she has undoubtedly imitated the man in that she has adopted his character and his boldness. And this is not befitting for women. And this reminds me that there is a word, indeed a correct hadith, mentioned in the characteristics of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), that they described him that he (peace and blessings be upon him) . We have become today, with great regret, not knowing the taste of this meaning. The "kha'dir" (secluded) girl, this has become lost because we were influenced by the European disbelieving upbringing that has no etiquettes and no morals. Therefore, in the end, the woman is only permitted to leave her home for a need that cannot be realized except by her hand. This need, in her medical treatment of women, is indeed not realized except by her. And blessed is she if she goes out to treat women without men, so that by doing so she has performed a collective obligation, which becomes an individual obligation when no one performs it who can perform it. Yes.

The questioner : Going out to attend circles of knowledge...

The Shaykh : I say, to summarize that speech: It is permissible for the woman to go out for a need that cannot be realized except by herself. And I gave an example of that which I detailed, that she treats women. And now it seems to me that it is better for the female doctor to make her clinic in her home, so that she does not have to go out, as long as there is a possibility, so that she does not go out. As for what is not possible, meaning her home does not accommodate a clinic, for example, her home is far from the center of the capital and its middle, for example, or for other excuses, let her go out and be modest as we mentioned, and perform that obligation. The female teacher also goes out like the previous one to teach a Shari'ah knowledge, meaning permissible by the Shari'ah for women and not for the youth. Then comes the turn of the woman's exit for her job. We say: This is not permissible except if we imagine that this woman has no one to support her at all, and the state does not look after her except with this job. Then I say: It is better for her to ask people and beg from them than to enter the paths of men claiming that it is a job.