What is the ruling on teaching in schools where there is free mixing of men and women?

The questioner : This question branches into another question regarding the field of teaching, as most schools in Algeria are mixed, and many, or most, of the Muslim youth work in the field of teaching?

The Shaykh : We do not permit free mixing of men and women in any form, and therefore teaching [in such schools] is not permissible.

The questioner : So what should be done? If one works in a government institution, the situation is more severe and the mixing is greater than in schools. Also, knowing that there is a good fruit from the brothers calling such youth in the schools?

The Shaykh : When you ask me, you say: What should be done? What should whom do?

The questioner : What should we do?

The Shaykh : Do you mean, for example, that there are some committed youth who are afflicted by this teaching?

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : Now, is there anything in Islam called "the end justifies the means"?

The questioner : Of course not, there is nothing.

The Shaykh : But perhaps among those who engage in political work, there is something of this. In that case, we do not say that as long as there is no one who teaches in accordance with the Shari'ah, we must tolerate this. This is a calamity that does not stop at the issue of teaching in a mixed society. Perhaps you hear, as we hear, that there are female students in medical colleges studying medicine, and knowing that this learning is more dangerous than the learning mentioned in the question because it involves more mixing. Sometimes, as we see in some hospitals, a girl stands next to a boy, and their heads meet while examining a patient or a germ, or... etc.
The Shaykh : To the point that a viewer, near or far, would say: nothing remains but touching, and that is happening. Yet, there are some among the Islamic callers who permit a Muslim girl to seek such knowledge because he will say: Who will treat our women?
The Shaykh : This is a valid question, of course. He says: The best thing to treat our women is men, so let us teach our daughters medicine and the like.
The Shaykh : Here we say, as we said somewhat regarding political work, we do not deny that there must be women educated in all the knowledge they need. This is necessary because it is a collective obligation.
The Shaykh : But the question is whether this obligatory learning of the sciences that are collectively obligatory is permissible by the Shari'ah by any means, whether that means is in accordance with the Shari'ah or contrary to it. For example, among the things contrary to the Shari'ah is this free mixing. Many may say, and we know this in reality, yes, and this is what was indicated in the previous message: that we must look away from committing some forbidden things so that the goal sought by the Islamic society is achieved.
The Shaykh : So the Islamic society wants female doctors, and there is no way now to produce female doctors except by this unlawful path, which is free mixing, for example.
The Shaykh : We say: This is not permissible. But at the same time that we say this, we know the reality of the Islamic scholars in every era, even in the purest and brightest time, that the Muslims and Muslim women were not all equal in the mindfulness of Allah the Mighty and Majestic.
The Shaykh : This disparity exists, especially in the current time, because when these people say that this knowledge must be learned by any means, and they hear their opponents say that the matter will remain in the hands of the disbelievers. Some even said, regarding goldsmithing and the sale of gold, which is based on open usury or interest, that this is also necessary, otherwise the matter will remain in the hands of the Christians as it is, inherited in many Islamic countries. We say: As is the reality, the disbelievers who do not prohibit or permit are the ones who perform some works that are forbidden to us. This is naturally exemplified by goldsmithing, but not by medicine related to women. But I say something else: Women today will hear two differing opinions. One is that it is permissible for a Muslim girl to seek medical knowledge in these mixed universities. The second opinion is that it is not permissible because of the mixing, and this is forbidden and exposes the mixed person to corruption.
The Shaykh : Each of the two opinions will have its followers, without doubt. In that case, we know by experience and tangible reality that the first opinion, which we are certain is contrary to the Shari'ah, will be adopted by a group of women who will learn medical science, just as the disbelieving women who do not prohibit it learn it.
The Shaykh : So if this happens, and it is happening as is the reality, then the turn of the committed Muslim girls will come. Instead of learning under the hands of young men and men, they will learn under the hands of these Muslim women.
The Shaykh : So the prohibition they imagine is an illusion and not a reality. And by this method, we combine avoiding harm to ourselves with others performing that obligation which is not originally obligatory upon us because it is a collective obligation. And therefore, it is not permissible for us to expose ourselves to places of trial or accusation.
The Shaykh : This is my opinion on this issue branching from the first issue.

The questioner : Does this mean that it is obligatory for the Muslim youth today to leave teaching?

The Shaykh : Yes, they should leave teaching, not teaching in general, but mixed teaching.

The questioner : So he is a teacher, a professor?

The Shaykh : I know a teacher, but even so, he should not be recorded [as doing so].

The questioner : Note here

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : In the Islamic awakening in Algeria, a large part of it was based on these brothers who teach in schools. I know brothers who teach and Allah rectifies through their hands, with students and female students entering Islam with commitment. If these brothers leave teaching now in this critical time, who will teach, for example?

The Shaykh : And this is what I referred to earlier, my brother, the Muslim should not be a scapegoat except in the truth. I said in some answers regarding the issue of female doctors: I have a daughter, I have a sister, I do not make her a scapegoat because the Islamic society must have female doctors. This is a necessary fact, right?
The Shaykh : But I do not make my sister or my daughter a scapegoat, meaning in achieving that collective obligation. I do not sacrifice my daughter or my sister by placing her in places where she may be tempted in her religion, her honor... etc.
The Shaykh : So the field for others to do this, other than my daughter, other than my sister, other than your daughter, other than your sister, is wide and very wide. So why do we open the door for the righteous men and women to expose themselves for the benefit of others, when there are those who achieve this benefit as I explained earlier, from those people who either do not care about the lawful and the forbidden, or who issue deviant fatwas as we indicated earlier, or who act based on these fatwas. As the common people say in some matters: "We put it on the neck of..."The Shaykh " .
The questioner : Do you hear this speech? Yes, we put it on the neck of...The Shaykh : ...but we should not be like these common people.

The questioner : If we do not fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic, the teacher teaches in a mixed environment and tries to work on the mindfulness of Allah.

The Shaykh : The problem, Professor, is whether he guarantees himself when he enters this path that he will not be tempted in his religion.

The questioner : It is established...?

The Shaykh : Yes, but it is established, and you are outside teaching without its establishment, and you are in teaching with this problem. If we suppose you say to our brothers who sit with me, and I have now reached seventy-four years of age, I fear for myself from the trial of women. What about others, I am from the youth? The issue is a risk.