What is the ruling on a woman leaving her home to work, whether that is for her financial need or for the need of her Muslim sisters of her, such as being a teacher or a doctor?

The questioner : There are several questions, as well, regarding a woman leaving her home to work. If this work is important for the woman, meaning for her need regarding financial income, if she is financially in need of this work, or if this work is very important for her Muslim sisters, such as being a teacher or a doctor or other jobs that are of concern, what is the ruling on a woman leaving to work and for the need? And is it a condition that she has her husband's permission? Also, specifically regarding the daily outing to bring household items and the children's necessities, is it necessary to renew the permission every day?

The Shaykh : As for permission, it is a necessity for a woman to leave her home, because this outing is undoubtedly not an individual obligation. Therefore, she must seek her husband's permission. As for whether she seeks his permission every day, every hour, or every week, that is a matter for the two spouses to agree upon between themselves. As for the mere outing or the outing itself, the truth is that this is a matter of extreme importance in the present age. In fact, there is much deviation from what a woman should be, which is staying in her home. Unfortunately, because Muslims have been influenced by the customs they adopted from the Europeans who colonized their lands, they have gone a very long way in imitating the Europeans without thinking that this imitation does not benefit them, but rather harms them. Whoever studies the Sunnah, the Prophetic biography, and the history of the Companions, men and women, knows that women in that purest and brightest era did not go out much as women do today, to the point that if you walk in the streets, you see the number of women equal to the number of men. This expansion in going out indicates that women have expanded their going out beyond what the Lawgiver permitted them. We must remember a fact: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in the Noble Qur'an, specifically regarding the wives of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), a verse that we should take as a methodology and a path for our women. It is His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . In this verse, there is a command and a prohibition, both directed directly to the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The command is that they stay in their homes, and the prohibition is that they do not display themselves if they go out of their homes for a need, displaying themselves as in the first age of ignorance. Many of the Muslims today say that this verse has no relation to Muslim women because it was directed to the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We say: This statement is very superficial, in ignorance of the fact that our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) may address the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his person with a command or prohibit him from a matter, and the intended meaning is not his person and self, but rather the intended meaning of all of that is his Ummah. The texts in this regard are numerous. What comes to my mind now is the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the Qur'an: . Someone might say: This address is directed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so we are not harmed if we associate partners with Allah, and if we associate partners with Allah, our deeds are void, claiming that this address is directed to the Messenger (peace be upon him). I do not think a sane Muslim falls into this serious deviation. But some have fallen into something similar when they say regarding the previous verse that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) only addressed the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with His saying: ; and therefore, there is no harm for other than the wives of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in not staying in their homes, and consequently, there is no harm for them in displaying themselves as in the first age of ignorance, claiming that this is an address directed to the wives of the Messenger (peace be upon him). The matter here is like the address directed to the Prophet himself there. Just as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) addressed the Ummah in the person of the Prophet when He said: , so He addressed the women of the Ummah in His address to the Mothers of the Believers with His saying: . If someone distinguishes between staying in the homes and displaying oneself as in the first age of ignorance, and says that staying in the home is a ruling specific to the wives of the Prophet, while the prohibition of women displaying themselves as in the first age of ignorance is general, including other than the wives of the Prophet, then undoubtedly he would be in the greatest contradiction. This is confirmed by the fact that the first part of the verse, or the command to stay in the homes, has come what indicates its inclusion of all Muslim women. We know, for example, the saying of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him): . This command indicates the permissibility of women praying the five prayers in the mosques behind the men. But despite that, we find the Messenger (peace be upon him) saying in other hadiths: . Their staying in their homes in their prayers is better for them than their going out to pray in the mosques. Now, let every Muslim think: which of the other places that one must go out to is purer and more complete for the Muslim woman than the mosques? Is the mosque or the university? Undoubtedly, everyone will say the mosque is purer than the universities, especially since they are today, as they say in our region of Sham, a mixed bag. And yet, we find the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) saying: . So, their staying in their homes is better for them than going out, whatever the excuse the woman leaving her home uses. Let us say, for example, that she is a doctor. First, is she a doctor who treats only women and not men? Is she in a clinic where no man enters at all, only women? We pass over the way this woman reached learning medicine; she must have taken a path with many dangers and pitfalls, and many of them. It is possible that some women were saved by Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) from those pitfalls and became doctors.