𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (504)

The Ruling on Women Going Out for Da‘wah and Delivering Lessons Questioner: He says: Some women go out to give Da'wah to other women, where they visit them in their homes and invite them to attend private lessons, and they may do this frequently. Does this contradict what Allāh has commanded them regarding remaining in their homes, since she goes out and moves from place to place? Especially with us, Shaykh, women are permitted to drive, so she goes to this one and goes to that one—so is this a contradiction? Shaykh Albani rahimahullah: I think that this practice is also among the problems of the present age. Part of this is that today we have begun to say that there are “callers” (male and female preachers), and this—without doubt—is among the newly invented matters. There should not be women who call themselves “female callers (da‘iyāt).” There is no harm—rather, it is a duty—that there be women who have learned the Islamic religious knowledge, such that women come to them to ask questions, because many women feel shy to direct their personal questions to the eminent (male) scholars. So if there are among women true scholars according to the condition that was previously explained, i.e., according to the Book and the Sunnah, then women should go to them, and not the reverse, because we truly believe in the statement of the people of knowledge: “All good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in the innovation of those who came after.” The matter has even reached the point that some women here, and perhaps in other lands, ascend the pulpit in the masjid and deliver lessons to women, while there may be men in the masjid courtyard who missed the congregational prayer and then enter to pray. This—without doubt—I do not hesitate to say is among the innovations. So the matter—as you mentioned in your question—is that it is obligatory for a woman to remain in her home. If she is distinguished above others by knowledge of the law of Allāh, Mighty and Majestic, that does not qualify her to set out in this manner like men and equal them in going out, as if our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, did not say in His Noble Book: “And remain in your houses.” The basic principle concerning a woman is that she should not go out except for a need that she cannot fulfill except by going out. Here the distinction becomes clear between the woman who has knowledge: it is not permissible for her to go out and set out—as they say—as a “caller,” and between the woman who wants to learn knowledge, who goes out, because it is permissible for her to go out to the mosque as is well known, and as was the situation during the time of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, with the knowledge that the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, said to them: “Their houses are better for them.” Despite that, he, peace and blessings be upon him, approved of their going out to the masjids even for the ‘Ishā’ prayer, and the explicit prohibition came: “Let none of you prevent his wife from going out to the ‘Ishā’ prayer.” And women used to depart from the Fajr prayer, as reported in the hadith of Muslim: “wrapped in their cloaks.” So the approval of the Messenger ﷺ for women to go out to perform the five prayers in the masjids, along with clarifying that their prayer in their houses is better for them, was only because they were going out to seek knowledge. Therefore, if there is a woman who sits in her home, there is no harm in women coming to her according to each one’s circumstances and ability, etc. As for her, she should not go out in the manner of men, because this is from imitation of men. Source: https://www.alathar.net/home/esound/index.php?op=codevi&coid=1500