What is the ruling on traveling to the lands of disbelief to learn a certain type of knowledge?
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The questioner : I ask for clarification, and may Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : My opinion, which I have issued as a ruling in the past and present, and I remain upon it and will not change it by the permission of the Exalted, is that it is not permissible for a young Muslim man to travel to the lands of disbelief, open sinfulness, and lewdness to learn a knowledge that is not an individual obligation upon him, unless two conditions are met, or two safeguards are present: that he be safeguarded by being married, and that he be safeguarded by Islamic morals. He must be safeguarded by Islamic morals on one hand, and also safeguarded by being married to a Muslim woman who prevents his foot from slipping, due to the abundance of lewdness found in those lands, where one says with the mu'adhdhin, "Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest."
The Shaykh : My opinion, which I have issued as a ruling in the past and present, and I remain upon it and will not change it by the permission of the Exalted, is that it is not permissible for a young Muslim man to travel to the lands of disbelief, open sinfulness, and lewdness to learn a knowledge that is not an individual obligation upon him, unless two conditions are met, or two safeguards are present: that he be safeguarded by being married, and that he be safeguarded by Islamic morals. He must be safeguarded by Islamic morals on one hand, and also safeguarded by being married to a Muslim woman who prevents his foot from slipping, due to the abundance of lewdness found in those lands, where one says with the mu'adhdhin, "Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest."