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Study
and work in mixed-sex-environments
Question:
Muslim women and their daughters in western countries where
there are Muslim minorities face very difficult circumstances
in that education and work are mixed environments. We are
caught between two possibilities. Either we cut-off our provision,
stay at home and beg and as a result sink to a very desperate
material condition, or, alternatively, wear our Islaamic hijaab
and study and work in those societies which do not differentiate
between mixing and separation. What is your esteemed opinion
concerning this matter?
Response:
Concerning
this very crucial issue, I believe that it is obligatory for
a Muslim to patiently adhere to and persevere with Allaah's
religion and not to be of those whom Allaah describes, saying:
{And of mankind are those that say, "We believe in Allaah."
But if they are made to suffer for the Sake of Allaah, they
consider the persecution of mankind as Allaah's punishment.},
[Soorah
al-'Ankaboot, Aayah
10].
A
Muslim must be patient and if it is not possible to gain a
livelihood except by what Allaah has forbidden, namely through
the mixing of men and women, then this livelihood must be
abandoned and another sought from another direction or from
another country. Was Allaah's land not vast enough for you
to emigrate therein? This is also true with respect to seeking
knowledge. How good it would be if the Muslim minorities could
establish their own schools based on the religion of Islaam,
where boys and girls are taught separately. If that could
be achieved it would be a great blessing. It is not possible,
however, for us to permit the mixing of the sexes because
of the seriousness of the issue and the level of temptation
contained therein.
Shaykh
Ibn 'Uthaymeen
al-Aqalliyaat al-Muslimah - Page 74, Fatwa No.14
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