What is the ruling on educating girls in this time? And what do you see in what some of the brothers do, where they limit the education of their daughters to the preparatory stage only?

The questioner : The question concerns the education of girls.

The Shaykh : Specify.

The questioner : Educating the girl in this time leads to many trials.

The Shaykh : That is enough; it means you have received the answer.

Those present : [Everyone laughs!]

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
We see that we should not educate the girl beyond the intermediate level, if that expression is permissible, what is called the preparatory stage; she should not exceed this limit. But our brothers respond to us by saying that if we follow the system you are following, in ten years we will see that all the teachers from among our daughters will be from those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, or from the Christians. So, the comment of our honorable professor on this topic.

The Shaykh : My comment has been repeated many times in response to such a question, both in confrontation and in reproach.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : In my belief, those who say this in an absolute sense do not keep in mind the agreed-upon Islamic rulings; that is, at the very least, they are stubborn and deny that what you mentioned of trials follows from it.
Is the answer clear up to this point?

Another questioner : It is clear here.

The Shaykh : Oh?

The questioner: Very clear.

The Shaykh : Good; as for the first objective, it is to avoid trials. In other words, I say: if they agree with the trials as you do, as appears from your speech, and I agree with you one hundred percent, if they are with us in such trials, and without doubt we have a good opinion of them, that carries us to believe they are not stubborn and denying the occurrence of any of these trials. And on that basis, I say: it is a grave error to ignore these trials and to say what you related from them, and we have no need to repeat it.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : That is because avoiding trials and the places of trials is an obligatory matter. And I also believe that they do not disagree with us on this; due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith we mentioned at the beginning of the day: . And if this is agreed upon as obligatory, then we say: this is an obligatory matter; namely, avoiding the trial or trials. Good. Educating the girl in this manner that exposes her to trials is neither an obligatory matter nor a recommended matter; so how can it be said that it is permissible? Rather, perhaps some exaggerate and say: we must educate our daughters with this education, and that it necessitates that knowledge be in the hands of open sinners or disbelievers; is this not their doubt?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : We say: the victory of the Muslims over their enemies is not achieved by their contradicting the rulings of their religion, but rather by their following and applying the rulings of their religion. And this is also another reality that they cannot be stubborn about or discuss. And when that is the case, we say: suppose that in the end, knowledge is restricted to open sinners and disbelievers; we say: if the matter is so—and I mean what I say, if the matter is so, and it does not mean that the matter is certainly so, as will be explained—if the matter is so, is it our logic, which contradicts several established Islamic scientific rules, that we contradict the Shari'ah so that we do not give open sinners and disbelievers the opportunity to be more knowledgeable than what? More knowledgeable than our daughters? This means we have entered the rule: "The end justifies the means." A Muslim does not say this. Nevertheless, I say that this result which these people claim, and which you related from them, is not necessarily a factual reality. Why? I say this result will be a factual reality under two conditions: first, in the beginning, and second, if there are not other people who issue rulings with this opinion that you related from them. And unfortunately, this exists, and exists in many of those in whose creed and knowledge we believe. So when that is the case, we must address the reality. Will the reality be that all the girls, or in other words, all the guardians or awliya of these women, will adopt the opinion of Al-Albani, for example, and those who have been vocalizing around him in this opinion?
Of course, there are many opinions contradicting his, so there will be among these educated girls a group who are not disbelievers and not open sinners, but rather they are committed and religious, even in our opinion, where they have contradicted our opinion in this issue. Why? Because from our correct Salafi creed, we do not see for ourselves any religious authority over the people as long as Allah says to His Messenger: . So we are not controlling the people, but we say the word that is quoted from some callers: "Cast your word and walk." You have no authority with the sword to force people to your opinion, but rather on the basis: "The truth is clear, and falsehood is obscure." So we... our word, and certainly, as is the case with the most truthful word on the face of Allah, which is "There is no god but Allah," did all the people adopt it? No. So a fortiori, not all people will adopt the opinion of this scholar or that. And therefore, this prohibition and this second answer, I said, will not be a reality. And even if we assume finally and ultimately that this will be a reality; suppose the matter becomes so, but what do they say about these long years that have passed, where the Islamic world, even its youth, lived in deep ignorance of much of the specific Islamic sciences that are obligatory upon them as an individual obligation, let alone the sciences that are obligatory upon them as a collective obligation.
Today, we naturally see an awakening among the Muslim youth in both sciences: the science of the Shari'ah and the other science, what do we call it? Worldly, industrial, etc. So now there is attention to this topic that they were not paying attention to before. So if it appears that the Muslims have lagged in a role in knowledge, and it is permissible for them, indeed obligatory, to perform it; nevertheless, if they remain as they are, what do we say if the women lag in performing a duty out of fear of Allah? There, they were not mindful of Allah, the youth were not mindful of Allah, they were heedless of the Shari'ah of Allah. So what is the great prohibition that will follow if we delay the women from learning a science of the sciences that we call worldly, as some of you said, for a quarter of a century.
And I believe that there will be a generation I can describe as a generation of women who are mixed; meaning, they are not one hundred percent committed, nor are they one hundred percent deviant, like the two groups we mentioned, either open sinners or disbelievers, but rather a mix of good and bad deeds. The role of this middle group will come, and they will take over the education of the committed group, which we are reluctant to let them fall into this experience, which exposes the girls or some of the girls to trial.
This is my answer, and I hope it is clear. Now, I want to give an example using myself or some of my zealous brothers. One of them has a wife, or a sister, or a daughter, and he does not... allow her to enter a school or a medical college to study this knowledge, the knowledge of medicine. We are in need of Muslim female doctors, and no one denies this. But I am jealous for my wife, I am jealous for my sister, and I am jealous for my daughter, fearing that this fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) we mentioned at the beginning of this discussion might befall them and surround them. I fear for these women who are my close relatives, and I think the matter should be the same for every Muslim who is jealous for his family. So, what is the prohibition? The result will be that the knowledge of medicine will be in the hands of whom? The open sinners or the disbelieving women. Well, what do you want, O Zayd, from people? I want some of our girls to study this knowledge. Well, then you let your wife, or your sister, or your daughter be the scapegoat; that is what it means. Would a Muslim say this? I do not think a person who addresses the issue from all its angles with the logical reasoning of the Shari'ah, as we presented many rules earlier, and with the emotional logic regarding his family, would think that he should throw the door wide open...