What is the response to the doubt of one who says: If women do not go out to work and teach, who will perform this role?

The questioner : And what is your Excellency's response to some Muslims who say that if the Muslim woman does not work in the fields of medicine, teaching, and nursing, who will replace them? Knowing that they fall into some violations of the Shari'ah, and they argue that "necessities permit the prohibited," and here is a Shari'ah necessity in performing these professions in service to all Muslims?

The Shaykh : I do not see the argument with this rule in this issue as correct; I do not see it as correct. That is because "necessities permit the prohibited" applies to what concerns individuals. And we know that this rule was taken from the verse: , then our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, followed the verse and said: . So if a person falls into a situation, we must note two things here:
The first: If a person obligated to do something is compelled to engage in what is originally forbidden, then "necessities permit the prohibited."
The second thing: "Necessities permit the prohibited" is not said for something that has not yet occurred, but may occur in the future. So we should not, for example, expose ourselves to destruction in a place where we do not find a way out of destruction by what Allah has made lawful. And conversely, if this unexpected event befalls this obligated person, then in this case, if he is compelled to eat what Allah has forbidden, it is permissible. But if a person intentionally enters a society knowing that he will fall into what Allah has forbidden, and justifies this entry with the rule "necessities permit the prohibited," this rule is not applicable here. Its place is when a person falls into a necessity without his own effort or seeking; that is where "necessities permit the prohibited" applies. Moreover, the scholars qualified this rule, as I mentioned in a previous session, with another rule so that its application does not become chaos. They said: "Necessity is estimated by its amount." For example, a person compelled to eat carrion does not sit and eat from it as if he were eating fresh, lawful meat, but rather he eats only the amount that removes the danger of destruction from him. Second, we say that it is obligatory that there be Muslim female doctors, and this is a collective obligation, not an individual obligation. But if obtaining a collective obligation results in this... or this unexpected event occurring to achieve this collective obligation, and if he knows that he will fall into a Shari'ah violation, then it is not permissible for him to perform this obligation, which is a collective obligation. We know this ruling from other rulings mentioned by jurists in some branches of Islamic jurisprudence. For example, accompanying funerals is a collective obligation; if some people perform it, it drops from the rest. But the jurists mention that if this collective obligation is accompanied by Shari'ah violations and innovations that contradict the Prophetic texts, then it is not permissible for a Muslim to attend that funeral procession, because attending it is not an individual obligation for him. In fact, they explicitly state, and this is what I mentioned with some explanation and detail in my book "Etiquette of the Wedding in the Pure Sunnah," that if a Muslim is invited to a wedding feast, he must respond, unless he knows that there is a wrong (munkar) that he cannot change. In that case, the obligation to respond drops from him. These are all matters known from the Sunnah and from the statements of the jurists. Therefore, it is not permissible for us to say that it is permissible for us to expose our women and daughters to what we may see of corruption in universities and elsewhere under the claim that we want to teach our women and daughters a collective obligation.
This collective obligation, I say, will be fulfilled by some women who do not adhere to what the believing, righteous, devout women adhere to. Therefore, there is no fear for the Muslim community regarding the adherence to the Shari'ah ruling we are explaining, under the claim that if Muslim women do not come forward to obtain this collective obligation, considering that there are harms occurring in that place where they obtain this knowledge. There is no fear that this knowledge will not be found among women who obtain it, because as it is said: "For every drop in the neighborhood, there is a catcher." We see by observation that not every Muslim youth who goes to schools and universities is committed, and likewise, not every Muslim girl who also belongs to schools and universities is committed. Those who are lax, they are the ones who will fulfill this collective obligation. And the other committed women, if they do not perform it, then originally there is no responsibility on them, because it is a collective obligation; if the Muslims or Muslim women perform the obligation, it drops from them. And second, they may have stayed away from places of stumbling and danger.
This is my guidance and answer to that question.