Some people philosophize about the issue of free mixing of men and women and argue that it is permissible and lawful based on the mixing present in the circumambulation of the Ka'bah in the Sacred Mosque, as well as what has come
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The reader: The questioner says that some people philosophize about the issue of free mixing of men and women and argue that it is permissible and lawful based on the mixing present in the circumambulation of the Ka'bah in the Sacred Mosque, as well as what has come and been reported about some of the gatherings of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which are understood to have been mixed between women and men, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: [At-Tawbah 9:71] How is the answer to this?
The Shaykh : The answer to this is to say that the texts are divided into two categories: clear and ambiguous. The path of those firmly grounded in knowledge is to interpret the ambiguous in light of the clear, so that the entire text becomes clear. If we find texts indicating that the Islamic Shari'ah prefers women to keep their distance from men, then other texts that may contain a reference to the mixing of women and men are among the ambiguous and are interpreted as applying to specific, particular cases where no harm occurs. It is known that it is not possible to separate women from men in the circumambulation, because if you separated women from men in the circumambulation by time, there would be a problem. For example, if you said that women go during the day and men at night, or women at night and men during the day, it would cause difficulty for people. Women have mahrams (relatives one may not marry), so what would a woman's mahram do if he were told, "Do not let your wife circumambulate except at night," while he wants to travel, for example? What would he do? Then, when the time ends, the men would come and the women would go out, resulting in mixing. And if they were separated by location, and we said that the area near the Ka'bah is for women and the outer area far from the Ka'bah is for men, or vice versa, mixing would still be necessary. Therefore, mixing in the circumambulation is a necessity and is unavoidable. However, it is far from the truth that anyone would be tempted in this situation; this is very far-fetched. This is because the occasion is one of worship, and no one would even consider temptation in this situation, except one whose heart Allah has turned away, and may Allah protect us from that. And as for one whose heart Allah has turned away, there is no power and no strength except with Allah. Yes.
The believing men and believing women are allies of one another
والمؤمنون والمؤمنات بعضهم أولياء بعضThe Shaykh : The answer to this is to say that the texts are divided into two categories: clear and ambiguous. The path of those firmly grounded in knowledge is to interpret the ambiguous in light of the clear, so that the entire text becomes clear. If we find texts indicating that the Islamic Shari'ah prefers women to keep their distance from men, then other texts that may contain a reference to the mixing of women and men are among the ambiguous and are interpreted as applying to specific, particular cases where no harm occurs. It is known that it is not possible to separate women from men in the circumambulation, because if you separated women from men in the circumambulation by time, there would be a problem. For example, if you said that women go during the day and men at night, or women at night and men during the day, it would cause difficulty for people. Women have mahrams (relatives one may not marry), so what would a woman's mahram do if he were told, "Do not let your wife circumambulate except at night," while he wants to travel, for example? What would he do? Then, when the time ends, the men would come and the women would go out, resulting in mixing. And if they were separated by location, and we said that the area near the Ka'bah is for women and the outer area far from the Ka'bah is for men, or vice versa, mixing would still be necessary. Therefore, mixing in the circumambulation is a necessity and is unavoidable. However, it is far from the truth that anyone would be tempted in this situation; this is very far-fetched. This is because the occasion is one of worship, and no one would even consider temptation in this situation, except one whose heart Allah has turned away, and may Allah protect us from that. And as for one whose heart Allah has turned away, there is no power and no strength except with Allah. Yes.