Is it a condition for men to teach religious lessons to women that there be a barrier between the men and the women?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : We are there weekly, conducting classes on the Islamic religion for Hungarian Muslims and for the Hungarian who loves to attend the classes, and we have announced about them, and there is a considerable number. So, most of the time, the majority of the attendees are Muslim girls, and there is always a person named Shahab al-Din who teaches me Arabic, and I translate into Hungarian. So, until now, the classes have been held with them sitting in front of us while we teach them about the religion. Is this permissible, or is separation required?
The Shaykh : I understand from your words that they are uncovered in the face?
The questioner : Yes, but they are wearing hijab, just without a niqab.
The Shaykh : You have spared me the need for detail. You have already told me that they are uncovered in the face, and that is enough. I have asked about this question repeatedly, and it is not permissible for a young male teacher to teach women without there being a barrier between him and them. It is only permissible in one case, which is the case of achieving infallibility (‘ismah), which will not recur after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The other case is if the teacher, lecturer, or instructor is a distinguished, elderly scholar known among people for his righteousness and piety, such that it is predominant in people’s minds that, first, he cannot be tempted by his own self, and second, none of the female attendees can be tempted by him, because he is an old man with no need for the worldly life. If this description or condition is met, it is permissible. Otherwise, it is from the perspective of blocking the means to harm (sadd al-dhara'i') that the teacher should be behind a screen and behind a barrier, whatever type this barrier is. Especially since it is easy nowadays to have means of broadcasting sound, so let him be in one room and let them be in another room. This is the obligatory course of action if the teacher is young.
And among the merits of teaching in the Saudi Arabian countries, as we have been informed, is that the teacher or doctor does not teach the girls face-to-face. Rather, he speaks and broadcasts his words via a special television, so that he is seen but does not see them. And yet, I have taken a lesson and jurisprudence from this, which I included in the previous condition, or included in the previous condition, when I said if the teacher is an old man, it is not feared that he will be afflicted with temptation in his own self by one of them, or that one of them will be tempted by him. It would have been sufficient for me to say the first point, but the other point is also very important. And I took this benefit from the following story.
We have been informed that one of the doctors who used to deliver their lectures toThe student : them via television, so he did not see them but they saw him. One of them fell in love with him and loved him. It appears that she was one of the princesses, and you know that the princesses, their status and influence is wider than that of others. So, she almost caused a rift between the beloved husband—I do not say the lover, for fear that it be interpreted as the active agent, but rather the beloved—and his wife, in order to clear her page for herself. Then our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, preserved the aforementioned doctor, and he saved himself and returned to his country. So, it is not correct, if we assume in the teacher what we call infallibility (‘ismah). We are speaking now in the language of the Sufis who distinguish between infallibility (‘ismah) and preservation (hifz). They say the wali (close friend of Allah) is preserved but not infallible.
So we say, and this doctor may have been preserved but not infallible. But the calamity transferred to whom? ToThe student : her, where he did not see her, but she saw him. And therefore, to prevent the harm between the two genders, the male teacher and the women he teaches, it should be that he is behind a barrier. Have I given you the answer?
The questioner : Exactly.
The Shaykh : And before you move on to another question, I want to know, for the sake of knowledge and history.
The Shaykh : I understand from your words that they are uncovered in the face?
The questioner : Yes, but they are wearing hijab, just without a niqab.
The Shaykh : You have spared me the need for detail. You have already told me that they are uncovered in the face, and that is enough. I have asked about this question repeatedly, and it is not permissible for a young male teacher to teach women without there being a barrier between him and them. It is only permissible in one case, which is the case of achieving infallibility (‘ismah), which will not recur after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The other case is if the teacher, lecturer, or instructor is a distinguished, elderly scholar known among people for his righteousness and piety, such that it is predominant in people’s minds that, first, he cannot be tempted by his own self, and second, none of the female attendees can be tempted by him, because he is an old man with no need for the worldly life. If this description or condition is met, it is permissible. Otherwise, it is from the perspective of blocking the means to harm (sadd al-dhara'i') that the teacher should be behind a screen and behind a barrier, whatever type this barrier is. Especially since it is easy nowadays to have means of broadcasting sound, so let him be in one room and let them be in another room. This is the obligatory course of action if the teacher is young.
And among the merits of teaching in the Saudi Arabian countries, as we have been informed, is that the teacher or doctor does not teach the girls face-to-face. Rather, he speaks and broadcasts his words via a special television, so that he is seen but does not see them. And yet, I have taken a lesson and jurisprudence from this, which I included in the previous condition, or included in the previous condition, when I said if the teacher is an old man, it is not feared that he will be afflicted with temptation in his own self by one of them, or that one of them will be tempted by him. It would have been sufficient for me to say the first point, but the other point is also very important. And I took this benefit from the following story.
We have been informed that one of the doctors who used to deliver their lectures toThe student : them via television, so he did not see them but they saw him. One of them fell in love with him and loved him. It appears that she was one of the princesses, and you know that the princesses, their status and influence is wider than that of others. So, she almost caused a rift between the beloved husband—I do not say the lover, for fear that it be interpreted as the active agent, but rather the beloved—and his wife, in order to clear her page for herself. Then our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, preserved the aforementioned doctor, and he saved himself and returned to his country. So, it is not correct, if we assume in the teacher what we call infallibility (‘ismah). We are speaking now in the language of the Sufis who distinguish between infallibility (‘ismah) and preservation (hifz). They say the wali (close friend of Allah) is preserved but not infallible.
So we say, and this doctor may have been preserved but not infallible. But the calamity transferred to whom? ToThe student : her, where he did not see her, but she saw him. And therefore, to prevent the harm between the two genders, the male teacher and the women he teaches, it should be that he is behind a barrier. Have I given you the answer?
The questioner : Exactly.
The Shaykh : And before you move on to another question, I want to know, for the sake of knowledge and history.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.