𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (403)

The Necessity of Gender Mixing in Ṭawāf and Saʿī Is Not a Basis for Permitting Free Mixing in General The questioner asks: Some people try to philosophise the issue of freemixing, claiming that it is permissible and allowed based on the mixing that occurs during ṭawāf in Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām, as well as certain gatherings of the Prophet ﷺ in which it is understood that men and women may have been present together based on the saying of Allāh Almighty: “The believing men and believing women are allies of one another” [At-Tawbah: 71]. How should we respond to such claims? Sheikh ’Uthaymeen rahimahullah: The response: We say that the texts of the Qur'ān and Sunnah are of two types: (1) Definitive (muḥkam), and (2) ambiguous (mutashābih). The approach of those firmly grounded in knowledge is to interpret the ambiguous in light of the definitive, so that the entire body of evidence remains definitive. When we find texts clearly showing that the Islamic Shari'ah encourages the separation of men and women, then any other texts that might appear to indicate the permissibility of mixing are to be understood as ambiguous and must be interpreted in context — as applying to specific cases where no harm arises. It is well known that it is not feasible to (completely) separate men and women during ṭawāf. If we were to separate them by time — saying, for example, that women perform ṭawāf during the day and men during the night, or vice versa — this would cause significant difficulty. Women are accompanied by their maḥram, and what is he to do if told that his woman folk may only perform ṭawāf at night while he has to travel? What would he do in such a case? Additionally, when the allocated time ends and one group begins to exit while the other enters, this itself would lead to mixing. If we attempted separation by space — saying, for example, that the area closest to the Kaʿbah is for women, and the outer areas for men, or the reverse — then again, mixing would be inevitable as people move in and out of the area. Therefore, the mixing that occurs during ṭawāf is a necessity and unavoidable. However, it is extremely unlikely that anyone would be led to fitnah in such a setting. This is because the context is one of worship. The idea that a person would be drawn to fitnah in this situation is far-fetched — unless Allāh has caused that person’s heart to deviate, and we seek refuge with Him from that.