Working women in Islam

The question of women working in an Islamic society has been asked frequently by youths who are converting from another religion or a Muslim turning to true teachings of Islam (becoming religious). The answer always depend on the person the question is asked. The main reason for this is lack of basic Islamic knowledge (which all Muslims must know, so that they would know if someone is telling a story or not).



In our society there are two main answers for this, the very first and the common answer comes from a group which has a very narrow ideology. Their answer is, it’s totally “haram”(prohibited) for women cause ladies ought to stay home and men are to work, ladies are “fithnah” (“manic” which is not the correct meaning of the Arabic word) in the community. So it’s best for them to stay indoors. This ideology is mainly promoted by a group which identify themselves as “dot” (named after the first house they started their gatherings) most commonly known as the September bombers of Maldives or Himendhoo fighters. Mostly this answer and similar verdicts are given out by the leaders of this group.
Ali Jaleel(drop out from Jamiya Salafiya Pakistan) and Mohammed Mazeedh(sent back to male during his first year of studies in Jamiya Salafiya due to health issues) insha allah a very detail article on these two and their group with the interviews of teachers of Jamiya Salafiya, former colleagues and former group members will come on this blog very soon.

The second answer is hardly heard yet a lot follows it, it’s very simple, woman can work in any environment which is Islamic. Then the question would be, “what is an Islamic environment for ladies?” Well Islam allows ladies to work in fields where they can observe Islamic dress code if in presence of men and fields where ladies don’t have to mix with men. Those who claim ladies should be at home have a major problem when their wives or girls have to see a doctor or if they have to fly for some reason.
I remember last summer I was in IGMH visiting a friend, when I was coming out I saw a man going nuts in front of the customer relationship desk, all he wanted was a female doctor to diagnose his wife. The good thing was I know this person, we had an argument once about sending girls to school (Islamic ruling on educating girls) his idea was they ought to stay inside so they won’t need to learn they can learn house work, that’s the Islamic way of life. I knew the answer but I was lack in knowledge on the subject, so I had failed in convincing him back then. I approached him and asked him what had happened. When he was done explaining I told him “well it would have been solved if blokes like you would agree to educate you girls so that they can make this community better”. Unfortunately he lost it and I had to leave lol. All they could say in each and every position like that is “why can’t we have hospitals, immigration checking counters, and other services specialized for ladies, we are a hundred percent Muslim country, why can’t we have it like Saudi?” my answer to them “cause we have people like you who would not allow their young girls to be educated, these services cannot be setup without proper training, KSA and other similar Shariah implementing countries taught their young girls before they had the institutes, hospitals, immigration counters and all other facilities specialized for ladies. The point is there is no point in asking for a service if you’re not ready to invest on it.

At this point they’d scratch their heads for a while and say “where is the proof?” if I’m to write all of that in detail, this would not be an article, but a little book on this subject. So here is what I’ve to say. The very same question was forwarded to the Council for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vise in KSA. The answer was they could work in an Islamic environment and in fields which are not exclusive to men. Regarding the education for girls, prophet Mohammed (SAW) use to have special classes for teaching ladies Quran and Islamic rulings and virtues, if we go through the history we’d find that the sahabiyath (female companions) of the prophet, some were nursing the wounded on the battle field we’d find ahadits narrated by them, political views and even in trade and commerce. Shifa bint Abdullah had been consulted by Umar bin Khatab while he was caliph, for her intelligence and great political views. Aisha was an expert on Quran interpretation. Most of the narrations in book of thafseer in Sahih Muslim would be from Aisha for this reason. In Islamic jurisprudence Umm Salmah had volumes of recorded verdicts.

*Every biography of Sahabiyath is full of great events, giving proof that knowledge and working is not only for men in Islam.