What is the ruling on working in government offices?

The questioner : The question on the paper asks, "What is the ruling on working in government offices?" If the answer is yes, does this apply to universities as well?

The Shaykh : Working in government offices is not answered with an absolute yes or no; rather, it is sometimes yes and sometimes no, depending on the nature of the work. If the work achieves a benefit for the Muslims without the employee committing a religious violation concerning himself or others, then it is permissible; otherwise, it is not permissible. As for universities, the same answer applies, which involves sometimes compliance and sometimes violation. If an employee works at a university, for example, and it is a co-educational institution where he must mix with women, even if he is a student of knowledge, that is not permissible, even if he is a professor of one of the subjects; that is not permissible. Otherwise, it is permissible, because knowledge, even if it is worldly knowledge, is a collective obligation that a group of the Muslim community must undertake. However, if this knowledge, or indeed religious knowledge itself, cannot be acquired except through mixing that is forbidden by the Shari'ah, then the answer is that it is not permissible. And whatever revolves around a job that is not permissible is not permissible, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: