What is the ruling on women going out for da'wah with their husbands, as the Tabligh group does?

The questioner : The question is about women going out for da'wah, as the Tabligh group does, as some men of Tabligh do, where they go out taking their women with them. Is this permissible or not permissible?

The Shaykh : This is, in fact, another religious innovation (bid'ah) that we did not hear of before. I used to say, years ago, when some people started calling some female graduates from some of the Shari'ah colleges "da'iyyat" (female callers), we said, "Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah), when did Islam have female callers?" Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), the mother of the believers, was such a master of fiqh and knowledge that she surpassed many of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in that. And because of that, they recognized her virtue and her precedence in this field, because she was first the virgin wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and then she was the most beloved of women to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), by his own testimony. And yet, she did not travel for da'wah, nor did she go out in this manner. I gave an example earlier, content with a hint, and a hint is enough for the intelligent person instead of explicit expression: that going out in groups like this, where there is only one scholar or one who is almost a scholar, and the others have no knowledge, so we advised them, and we continue to advise them, as we opened this gathering and others with the previously mentioned saying of him (peace be upon him) We always and forever advise them that the alternative to this going out, for which they have no precedent from the Salaf for fourteen centuries—I do not say they have no precedent among the Salaf who represent only the three centuries, but in all these Islamic eras, it has never happened that a scholar goes out with ten, twenty, thirty, or more people. For what? For the sake of Tabligh, conveying the da'wah. Conveying the da'wah requires scholars, not those who are not scholars. So I used to advise these people to stay in one of the houses of Allah the Exalted and Majestic, reciting the Book of Allah and discussing it among themselves, so that among them there would be a knowledgeable jurist who, if he stood to preach to the people, would not make a mistake in reciting a verse of Allah, nor err in reciting a hadith of the Messenger of Allah. And this, unfortunately, we hear often and very often. We used to advise them to sit in the houses of Allah and learn. And now we are surprised, as the common saying goes, "We were under the rain, and we became under the gutter." We used to complain about the going out of those who are not people of knowledge among the men, and now we are surprised that the matter or the contagion has spread even to the women. Do these people not know that Allah the Exalted and Majestic first revealed a clear verse in the Qur'an, saying, addressing the women of the Ummah in the persons of the wives of the Prophet of the Ummah: The meaning of "stay in your homes" means "settle down," that is, "remain," that is, "do not go out of your homes." And if you go out for a need that you must have, do not display your adornment like the display of the first age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). Do these people not know the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that it is better for a woman not to go out to pray with the congregation of Muslims, where the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds said: Rather, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said, "If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had known what the women innovated after him, he would have forbidden them from the mosques." He (peace and blessings be upon him) brought Islam as the middle path: There is no excess in it and no negligence, no extremism and no neglect. And rather, as He said: It is not forbidden for women to participate with the Muslims in prayer in the mosques, but He said: It is not forbidden for them to do so, because a woman may sometimes need to pray in the mosque to hear a sermon or learn knowledge, especially in a time when there are few teachers and students together. And therefore, unfortunately, you find the mosques today empty of their domes, with no lessons being held in them. I witnessed many circles of knowledge in some of the mosques there in Damascus, but I did not leave Damascus for this country except that there remained no one who reminds Allah the Exalted and Majestic in any of the mosques except for this routine thing, as they say today: the Friday sermon, the sermon for the lesser or greater 'Id, and that is all. As for circles being held, and this is what I witnessed in the old days, there is no mention of it at all. The point is that this Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), to whom Allah revealed and addressed his wives with His saying: So other than the wives of the Messenger (peace be upon him) are more in need of such divine address. Likewise, he encouraged the women to adhere to performing their five obligatory prayers in their homes, and he said: So how do these people say, when one of them reminds the praying people after the imam's taslim from the obligatory prayer with a phrase in which they also contradicted the Sunnah, the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with which he used to open all his sermons and all his sermons, and you heard it earlier: "As for what follows, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), etc." As for them, I swear by Allah, with my frequent hearing of it, I have memorized it, because I am in no need of it due to the sermon of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but in my mind are some of the words of it, and you remember it better than I do, and it is what he says: "And our success and prosperity is only by following the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." Well, first, this phrase contradicts the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as I told you earlier in some of the previous examples. If they know the Sunnah, and if they do not know it, that has passed, and if they know it and then turn away from it, that is more bitter. Have these people, who always mention that the prosperity of this Ummah and its success is by following the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), not heard? How do they contradict the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in dozens of the starting points from which they start? This phrase before the lesson: "Our success and prosperity is by our following the Sunnah of our Prophet." Our Messenger did not say this phrase; he used to say: If they do not know it, that is evil, and if they know it, it is more evil. And I say that they know it. Why? Because I know from Damascus and from Amman that many of these people of good hearts—I say it with complete frankness—but they are not sound in knowledge, they do not have knowledge. They know that they read the book *Riyad al-Salihin* by Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him). In *Riyad al-Salihin* is this hadith with which the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to open his sermons. So they know this sermon. And why do they not follow the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in it, instead of this fabricated sermon with those words they say, and then they contradict its practice? I fear most of all that they do not do so because they are not with the people of the Sunnah in the saying of the Prophet of the Sunnah: Rather, their da'wah is based on not stirring up this Sunnah, and this is a religious innovation (bid'ah). And now we are surprised that the women have also started going out with the men. Subhan Rabbi (Glory be to my Lord)! The best of people are the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), they are the Companions of the renowned imams, starting with Abu Hanifa and ending with Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, the Imam of the Sunnah. Did the women of these imams go out with their husbands, the scholar imams, in the path of da'wah? No, then no, then no. So how do these people do it? Thus, this confirms that these people contradict their words with their actions. "Prosperity by following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah" is a true word, even if it was not received from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Did they apply it and follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him)? That is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. And we ask Allah the Exalted and Majestic to teach us the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and to make us among those who know and act upon what they know.
RecitationThe Shaykh : What was made easy from Surat al-Imran, from verse 102 to verse 103