What is the role of women in reforming the Ummah until it reaches what Allah desires?
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The Shaykh : Here is a question which, in my opinion, is an innovation of the present age: What is the role of women in reforming the Islamic Ummah until it reaches what Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, desires?
The answer is that a woman is either married and a homemaker, or she is a single woman. If she is the former, her obligation is to serve her home, her husband, and her children. If she performs this obligation well, she has served the Islamic Ummah, because every person, every individual, when he performs his obligation within the scope of the circle in which he lives, the general service to the Islamic Ummah is thereby realized. Let us give a very simple example: what is called in some countries a "schoolmaster," meaning the teacher who teaches young children. He undoubtedly performs his obligation, but is he like the teacher who teaches doctors, for example? No. But this one performs his obligation and that one performs his obligation. When this one and that one, and all the groups of individuals who are obligated to perform their duties, cooperate in each one doing what is required of him, the service to the Islamic Ummah is realized.
So, if the woman, as I said earlier, is married and has children, her place and abode is in her home to serve her husband and raise her children, and this suffices as service to the Islamic Ummah. However, if she is a homemaker but has not been blessed with children, for example, and has been blessed with some knowledge, we do not see any obstacle in this situation for her to either hold lessons in her home or hold a lesson in someone else's home, according to the conditions of these homes that facilitate women gathering to learn from her.
The important point is that every person has an obligation. The obligation may be a collective obligation (fard kifayah), in which case if some people perform it, it drops from the rest, or it may be an individual obligation (fard 'ayn), such that it is obligatory for every person to perform it. This has another scope. Therefore, the educated woman teaching her female counterparts, if she has no obligation in her home, is one of the collective obligations for which she is rewarded, just as the man is rewarded for his teaching of men, namely any beneficial knowledge.
The answer is that a woman is either married and a homemaker, or she is a single woman. If she is the former, her obligation is to serve her home, her husband, and her children. If she performs this obligation well, she has served the Islamic Ummah, because every person, every individual, when he performs his obligation within the scope of the circle in which he lives, the general service to the Islamic Ummah is thereby realized. Let us give a very simple example: what is called in some countries a "schoolmaster," meaning the teacher who teaches young children. He undoubtedly performs his obligation, but is he like the teacher who teaches doctors, for example? No. But this one performs his obligation and that one performs his obligation. When this one and that one, and all the groups of individuals who are obligated to perform their duties, cooperate in each one doing what is required of him, the service to the Islamic Ummah is realized.
So, if the woman, as I said earlier, is married and has children, her place and abode is in her home to serve her husband and raise her children, and this suffices as service to the Islamic Ummah. However, if she is a homemaker but has not been blessed with children, for example, and has been blessed with some knowledge, we do not see any obstacle in this situation for her to either hold lessons in her home or hold a lesson in someone else's home, according to the conditions of these homes that facilitate women gathering to learn from her.
The important point is that every person has an obligation. The obligation may be a collective obligation (fard kifayah), in which case if some people perform it, it drops from the rest, or it may be an individual obligation (fard 'ayn), such that it is obligatory for every person to perform it. This has another scope. Therefore, the educated woman teaching her female counterparts, if she has no obligation in her home, is one of the collective obligations for which she is rewarded, just as the man is rewarded for his teaching of men, namely any beneficial knowledge.