Ask Shaykh YQ #111 – The Ruling of Teaching Students of the Opposite Gender in Islam

The next question I have is from Sister najwa. She does not mention her location, she mentioned that she is from a land where typically, women do not teach at co educational schools where the schooling is gender segregated. However, she has now moved to another land, where co education is the norm. Her profession is a schoolteacher, and now she is feeling you know, shy that am I able to teach in such a situation there will be boys and girls over there. And she is not accustomed to teaching boys. She's only accustomed to teaching girls. So she asks, Is there any Islamic prohibition for her to teach young men given that the culture that she's now in is co educational

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The response to this, the issue of intermixing of the genders, the intermixing of men and women is one that the Shetty eye has some guidelines. And then the shediac allows the rest of it to be dictated by culture, this is a very important point. In some aspects, the shediac takes complete control. And it will tell you do this and don't do that. In other aspects, the Sherry, I will be silent and culture will dictate. And in some, there's a little bit of shady and mixed with the rest of it will be culture and intermixing of the genders is one such area where the shediac has some guidelines, and then the rest can be culture sensitive. In other words, if you fulfill the sharee

guidelines, the rest is going to be dependent on the culture of the land that you live in. And so we have for example, from the Shetty up when it comes to intermixing. When it comes to men and women interacting together, we have some very simple guidelines, and of the most important guidelines, as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Let no man enter upon a lady whose husband is absent, meaning he's gone on a journey because remember, those days the man would go for many weeks or months on end. And so the lady would be left alone in the house. So the Prophet system said, Let no man enter into the house of somebody who has gone traveling and his lady or his wife is there, you

know, absent from her husband, except that he has another man with him. So nobody should enter the house of a lady. So for example, somebody has to deliver some food somebody has to deliver groceries, somebody has to service something of the house or something. So nobody should enter in alone, there should not be privacy, there should be somebody there that is also with the person so that everybody maintains a decorum and a proper a characteristic. Also, we know that the city has forbidden Hollywood and Hollywood means that a man and a woman that are obviously not related to one another that they are alone in a place that nobody has access to. So a closed room or something of

this nature. This is considered Hollywood, the show he also has guidelines. With regards to dress with regards to interactions, both genders have to be dressed appropriately. both genders have to act in a dignified manner, avoid flirtatious talk, speak in a manner that, you know gives the sense of gravitas and decorum that is appropriate for our religion of Islam, because we all understand the reasons why these laws have come is that we protect the institution of marriage, we do not open up any doors of evil. Now, given all of these laws beyond this, how much can the two genders interact and mix together? For example, can you know families that come together, couples friends come

together? And they're sitting together on the same dining table? You know, various friends and their you know, husbands and wives all come together? And they're sitting at the same dining table? Believe it or not, this is culture sensitive. And I know for some of my viewers, they've never heard of this that why is this question even being asked. And again, the more you travel, the more you live in different cultures, the more you understand that different societies have different norms. For example, in more conservative lands like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, it is very, very rare, almost unheard of, for genders to be interacting together. And that in and of itself is

neither Islamic nor an Islamic that is the way that that culture is, frankly the Sahaba if you look at if you read this year, if you read the books of early Islam, the Sahaba had a level of interaction that was definitely more than the level of interaction that takes place in many of the Gulf countries in our times and public in the marketplace. In the bazaars in the massage it men and women knew each other by their first names and they would address one another in public and ask a question that needed to be asked. There was no shame more harm in doing that. In our times in those societies. It is completely taboo. It is unheard of that a person is going to address somebody

outside of his or her immediate family. And again, I'm not

Saying That's right. I'm not saying that's wrong, I'm simply telling you status quo that is the way that it is in those lands. And what I am saying the shady allows cultures to take charge and to, you know, go sometimes when the more segregation will say between genders, and sometimes on the less segregation as long as its barriers are met. And in fact, this difference goes back to the very beginning of Islam. And it goes back to the cultures and societies in the early days of Islam. In the famous book, the more thought of Mr. Malik, which is the earliest book of Hadith that has been written or one of the earliest books of Hadith. In my mighty guide 179 hedgerow, in the multimatic,

a man asked Mr. Malik, that basically, can a man and his wife sit with a guest and entertain them on the same dinner table basically, right. So basically, somebody has come and you know, the wife and husband are sitting there, and can they eat together partake of the meal, together, any magmatic set, there is no sin, there is no heritage, there is no problem in this as long as it is the custom of their people to do so. And in Medina, at that time, it was the custom to do so it wasn't an issue that men and women, as long as they're dressed appropriately, they're sitting on the same if obviously didn't have a table tables came later on, but they're sitting on the same area, and

they're sitting together to eat now. Mmm, I didn't humble heard or read this anecdote from your mom, Maliki Mohammed was in Baghdad, this is 100 years, you're a little bit more than 100 years later. So Mr. Mohammed, read this anecdote, not quite 100. But you know, about eight years after this. So your mom heard of this anecdote, many decades later. And he read of this, and he was in Baghdad, and in Baghdad, because of the culture and because of the wealth. And by the way, another issue generally, it's not the rule of thumb, but generally speaking, the more wealth and the more privilege that came in those societies, the more segregation was possible. And the you know, the more rudimentary type

of lifestyle, you know, it didn't allow for that type of segregation. So but that is not the capital of the world, not just the Muslim world. It is the political and intellectual and economic capital of the world. It is the largest city, the wealthiest city by the time, Mr. Mohammed bin Salman. And so Mohammed herder read of this, and he was the generation goes to a job, he was amazed, he was astonished, like, wow, Mr. Malik allowed this, because in his time in his place, it was unheard of that, you know, men and women would sit at the same place that were not related to one another, and then partake of that meal. So in my mind, understood, that's a different culture and in our culture,

and above that, that is something that is not going to happen. So this is something that does vary from time to place to culture to civilization, and therefore, as long as the Islamic rulings are met, which is appropriate interactions, appropriate dressing, you know, everything is that the Sharia has asked no halwa. All of this is done. The rest, as we said, is culture sensitive. So this lady, the sister asks our sister, Nadia, I'm assuming she's coming from a gulf country, because that's really generally where core education is completely segregated. And now she is living in a land where it is now not segregated. So she's asking, Is there a shelter a prohibition? And the

response is that there is no shelter, a prohibition per se, as long as she is dressed appropriately. And interactions are shallow, I'm assuming obviously, we'll all be done in a manner that is dictated by the idea in and of itself, there is no such a problem with men and women interacting in public in a dignified manner. That having been said, and by the way, your mama No, we mentioned this in his book much more. Remember? No, we mentioned that. And that is because a lot of men and women, the mixing of men and women, is not how long in and of itself, as long as it is not done in Hollywood, as long as it is not one man, one woman mixing in the privacy of one's or you know, being alone in

the privacy of a house or something, then this is not something that is held on per se, there's a minority writing this, that there's nothing wrong with many women being in public together and tracting together in public, it that's not how long per se, that having been said, I must also point out that in me Having said this, I also have to add the caveat, which is that plenty of studies have shown that especially you know, in the adolescence phase, that it is in fact better for young men and young women to be separated during the educational process. It is in fact far more conducive for a better academic environment, it is more conducive to study to higher grades to concentrating. And

that is understood that that is an age from especially from the age of let's say 13 to 18. And even beyond this, that that is an age where you know you're you're you're bringing together you know two opposites that are definitely going to attract and it does have its share of dangers. Now, of course this is not to address your particular question, sisters.

measure what because you are not in control of the society you're in. I'm merely pointing out that, especially for my audience that finds this question, you know, strange or troubling. And I do have members of our audience that are also from all sides of the spectrum, where, you know, sometimes the question itself is too liberal or too conservative whatnot. And, again, I'm somebody who's trying to cater to many different audiences here. And my point is that I understand you problematize the question, oh, my God, how can somebody asked about such a simple question, of course, gender should be interacting together. And my response is that, well, that's the society you and I have been born

into. That's a society where the concept of gender segregation is almost unheard of, dare I say, almost nobody of the next generation can even imagine a society where genders are pushed to not necessarily just be together where there should be a natural segregation, if not an actual segregation, which is enforced in some Gulf countries, the Sharia, without a doubt, would suggest some form of natural, healthy segregation when there's no need to be intermixing. the very notion of gender segregation, the very notion of having men and women not necessarily completely integrated with one another is alien to many people who are listening to this question because they've never

imagined or seen or visualized a society where that is possible. As somebody who's lived in both types of societies where gender segregation was harshly enforced, and where there's complete intermixing. Let me tell you, honestly, there are definitely very major pros and cons. In both of these, there's no question about that. There's major pros and cons. It's not that simplistic. And the point is that, we also need to understand that there is a lot of good as well. And perhaps, and perhaps the good is far more than the bad, where there is some type of segregation that is there. And we see this in simple statistics of our society and our time and our place. It is estimated that

according to some latest surveys that up to 60% of teenagers have high school we're talking about high school, up to 60% of them are engaging in premarital intercourse. This is an America that is a staggering statistic. You're talking about 17 year olds, 16 year olds, and more than half of them are engaging in premarital, what do you think is going to happen? What do you think that's going to? Cause? Is that something that is healthy or not? And by the way of that, you know, around 5% or so are actually, you know, in middle school, also, basically below the age of 13. There are beginning I mean, what is going to happen when you have daily, you know, interactions between the genders at

this age and the you know, the hormones are just coming in? Is that something that is really the wisest or not so all of this having been said, The sisters asking a very specific question, and I'm saying it is highlighted and permissible, I still point out that we should also understand that it does have a lot of wisdom. And even if some things might be permissible, it's permissible to interact in public with the opposite gender, still some amount of healthy segregation where we have without going overboard because again, we you know, definitely have to take into account that a harsh segregation does is counterproductive in a society where that segregation does not take place.

And I've spoken about this in other areas in issues, but again, to be very clear that in lands where gender segregation is unheard of, to try to force, a very strict segregation within our communities, and within our massage, it is completely counterintuitive and counterproductive because it especially given the technology and whatnot, it's not going to achieve at school, rather, what I'm suggesting is a healthy and organic segregation. And that's something that every community should come together and have a very frank discussion, a very open discussion between various gender, the two genders and various segment age segments as well. Very important. You bring the young men and

women you bring the elders, and you have a frank conversation that okay, should we have a barrier or not? For example, should we have this and that, for example, in the time of the Prophet salallahu, alayhi wasallam, many women will be entering from one door, and overridable hottub rhodiola. One suggested, he said, a messenger of Allah, why don't we assign that door to the woman and that door to the men and the process of readily agreed? So here's that organic segregation, where why should men or women be jostling and shoving through the same door, if they're able to they weren't able to or that I didn't, didn't come in the beginning, if they're able to, let's say, have two separate

doors. We know that in the time of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, there was not a physical barrier, but the women were at the back and the men were at the front that's unnatural. and healthy. Segregation is not something that is enforced by a wall. Rather, it's you know, and in fact, it is authentically narrated that a lady was having trouble hearing what the process of them said. So she leaned forward and she said, you know, dear brother, may Allah have mercy on you. What did the Prophet system say? And the brother leaned back in and answered or he said, such as this an authentic

In Muslim America than others that that is that I couldn't hear what the President said. So I lean forward Is that me? Allah have mercy on you. Can you tell me that shows that there's just a barrier? I mean, not a barrier, a space between them, but there was interaction going on. And there's nothing wrong with that. Why should there be something wrong with that? So my point being the the sister is asking a question, the response is very straightforward that it is in fact, not problematic at all. That having been said, it raises the broader question about gender interaction, and it's still out what is called an Arabic Escalade. And the response is that in and of itself, as you know, we said,

an amount of intermixing is natural and a part of society in and of itself is not held on. Nonetheless, one should be aware that the Shetty does understand that just unbridled mixing, let's say does is not something that is healthy, it is not the default. And we should try our best to be reasonable and disregard that given the circumstances of society take into account the norms of rashidiya and have a middle ground in our communities and our massages and a lot subhana wa Taala knows best