Is studying in universities permissible?

The questioner : ... Question: We have heard your fatwa regarding studying in universities. Is it absolute or conditional?

The Shaykh : It is conditional. If there is free mixing of men and women, it is not permissible. Unless the intention behind the question is something other than this?

The questioner : No. This is the question.

The Shaykh : Then this is the answer.

The questioner : For example, restricting the mixing in some universities, like in the theater where the male students study, or in the department where the male students sit in one section and the female students in the rear, or the male students on the left and the female students on the right, with a passageway between them. Does this suffice, or...

The Shaykh : Look, Abu al-Harith, the following example is why we say that knowledge is necessary to answer such matters that did not exist before. Last night, there was a discussion between me and a young man whose sister is a student at the Yarmouk University in Irbid. She asked me if studying in our place is mixed, is it permissible? I answered her in some detail that it is not permissible. A few days later, she consulted me again recently. She said, "O Shaykh, after I heard your fatwa and was convinced by it, I resolved to leave the university. But as soon as my family heard about it, they all rose up against me like one man, including a brother of mine. You can almost hear her words as if you see her crying, but she was on the verge of tears. What should she do?" I said to her, "You have a brother." She said, "Yes, here he is." So a discussion took place between me and him regarding the following. And here is the point: he took over the conversation to say. The first thing he said, poor thing, because he is a young man but has no knowledge, was, "O Shaykh, times have changed now. Yes, times have changed." I said, "Yes, that is correct. So if times have changed, does the Shari'ah change?" And I gave him a lecture on this point. When he was defeated on this point, he took another approach and said, "O Shaykh, this has been going on for two years, and she is studying in the university. It is not permissible for her to lose the study of two years now." And he added to that that she will graduate tomorrow and teach Muslim girls, which is better than others. This is also a whisper in the present age that many people rely on to justify for themselves committing a small violation in order to avert a large violation. I said to him, "O so-and-so, first, our Lord says: Are you saying that it is not haram to leave the study of two years and lose it? This study, as long as it is in violation of the Shari'ah, is of no benefit. And I entered with him into the details of the ruling on mixing in Islam. And here now is the crux of the matter, as they say, regarding your question. I said to him, he said, peace be upon him, when he was asked about the best and worst places, he said: The best places are the mosques. Mixing between women and men is forbidden in them, so it is not permissible for the Muslim woman to line up with the Muslim man, standing between the hands of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Rather, the Messenger, peace be upon him, said, as is known to everyone: If Islam orders the woman to pray in the last rows so that she is far from the men, in what atmosphere? An atmosphere of taqwa, righteousness, and turning to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And this is not all. He said, peace be upon him, one day, and with him was Abdullah ibn Umar: And today, whoever among you goes to the Prophet's Mosque knows that there is a door known as the Women's Door, and written on it is a yellow sign: Women's Door. Ibn Umar said, his mawla Nafi' said: This is not all. Rather, it came in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to remain for a moment after he finished the prayer. The narrator said: And in Sunan Abu Dawud, there is a hadith that says: These are Islamic etiquettes. Can these things be realized there in the university? However you imagine the matter for us, the witness sees what the absent one does not see. In my opinion, from behind, and you correct or refute, this system cannot be applied in universities because these universities were not established on an Islamic methodology. And therefore, I spoke with this young man and said to him, "You must be a helper to your sister as long as Allah has guided her." Then I forgot something to mention. He said, when he told me that she would teach the girls later, I said to him, "Subhan Allah! I understood from her that she is studying chemistry in the university. A girl studying chemistry? If she were studying Shari'ah, we would say, by Allah, she would take on teaching. But chemistry, what do you want to teach chemistry?" So the important thing is that I was asked another question by some of our brothers there in Algeria. He told me that a university girl heard the news that mixed studying is not permissible, but she has about six months left until she graduates. After I understood from him that she is committed and that she is wearing the jilbab, and so on, and every good description, in the end, I said to him, "La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Does she avoid what she can to complete these remaining months, then graduate and commit herself to her home?" The important thing is that studying in a mixed university, we do not see it as prescribed, based on the descriptions we heard of the mosques and the rulings in them. Especially, you may find, as we do, that there are beautiful gardens in the universities where the young men and young women, the boys and girls, spread out, and so on. This is undoubtedly a great and very great field for corruption. Is there anything else?

The questioner : O our Shaykh, there are still two questions. First, there is a question of usul al-fiqh, or is this the question?