The Ruling on a Woman Driving a Car
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The Shaykh : As for a woman driving a car, we have written a comprehensive answer, if Allah wills. I do not know if it was published in the newspapers or not, but we wrote about it and clarified the deterrents and harms that result from it.
We are not saying that a woman driving a car is forbidden, meaning her movements, driving the car, and stopping it are not forbidden. This is not forbidden. But the bad consequences that result from it are what is forbidden.
If we say now that we do not protect our young men, if we give them a car, we cannot control them; they go at night and day as they please. What about women? You do not accept that she stays with her female colleague to teach with her and does not go to other matters.
Then, who guarantees to us that this car will stop one day on a road, break down, run out of gas, and then a man from the lower classes stops it and does not give her what she needs unless she satisfies his desire? Who can trust this?
And there are many harms, which we mentioned. I think it was six or seven harms, all of which necessitate preventing a woman from driving a car. This is in general matters. But if we suppose a woman in her walled garden, in her orchard, wants to drive the car from the top of the orchard to the bottom to carry, for example, feed for the animals.
And what is similar to that, we do not prevent this thing, and we do not say that it is forbidden, unless we know that this will be taken as a pretext for the merchant's daughter to say: If you allowed the farmer's daughter this, then allow me also to transport my father's goods from the warehouse to the shop, and what is similar to that. If this raises this objection against us, then at that time the issue is looked into. Yes.
The questioner : ... the question, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This question, and we have finished here.
We are not saying that a woman driving a car is forbidden, meaning her movements, driving the car, and stopping it are not forbidden. This is not forbidden. But the bad consequences that result from it are what is forbidden.
If we say now that we do not protect our young men, if we give them a car, we cannot control them; they go at night and day as they please. What about women? You do not accept that she stays with her female colleague to teach with her and does not go to other matters.
Then, who guarantees to us that this car will stop one day on a road, break down, run out of gas, and then a man from the lower classes stops it and does not give her what she needs unless she satisfies his desire? Who can trust this?
And there are many harms, which we mentioned. I think it was six or seven harms, all of which necessitate preventing a woman from driving a car. This is in general matters. But if we suppose a woman in her walled garden, in her orchard, wants to drive the car from the top of the orchard to the bottom to carry, for example, feed for the animals.
And what is similar to that, we do not prevent this thing, and we do not say that it is forbidden, unless we know that this will be taken as a pretext for the merchant's daughter to say: If you allowed the farmer's daughter this, then allow me also to transport my father's goods from the warehouse to the shop, and what is similar to that. If this raises this objection against us, then at that time the issue is looked into. Yes.
The questioner : ... the question, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : This question, and we have finished here.