Women in the West attending mixed co-ed university to study medicine
Question:
"I am a Muslim woman who wants to become a doctor. However, people discourage it because I will have to go to a co-ed college and they say that I will be intermingling with men there. But there are no all-girls colleges in my area and my goal is to serve the sisters in my community. I am married and I do not seek to mingle with men. What is the ruling for this?"
Answer:
"The woman preserving her honour and her dignity is more binding upon her than her learning a science that obligates her to intermingle with men. It also endangers her character and manner and it is more binding upon her that she stays away from this intermingling. If it is possible that she can keep her hijaab and stay firm upon her Deen and find somewhere to learn where there is no intermingling with the men then alhamdulillaah there is nothing wrong with this. As for her leaving her hijaab (veil) and mixing with the men in order to learn something that is permissible (Medicine), then this is not permissible. In this situation it is not even considered permissible for her to study this as she will be required to do things that are haraam."
Shaykh Saalih bin Fawzaan Al-Fawzaan, may Allah preserve him
Translated by Albaseerah.org.
Source: Lecture on the Life of Imaam Muhammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, 3rd of December, 2005. [Click here for a screenshot in PDF format]
Use the player below or download the MP3 here.
"I am a Muslim woman who wants to become a doctor. However, people discourage it because I will have to go to a co-ed college and they say that I will be intermingling with men there. But there are no all-girls colleges in my area and my goal is to serve the sisters in my community. I am married and I do not seek to mingle with men. What is the ruling for this?"
Answer:
"The woman preserving her honour and her dignity is more binding upon her than her learning a science that obligates her to intermingle with men. It also endangers her character and manner and it is more binding upon her that she stays away from this intermingling. If it is possible that she can keep her hijaab and stay firm upon her Deen and find somewhere to learn where there is no intermingling with the men then alhamdulillaah there is nothing wrong with this. As for her leaving her hijaab (veil) and mixing with the men in order to learn something that is permissible (Medicine), then this is not permissible. In this situation it is not even considered permissible for her to study this as she will be required to do things that are haraam."
Shaykh Saalih bin Fawzaan Al-Fawzaan, may Allah preserve him
Translated by Albaseerah.org.
Source: Lecture on the Life of Imaam Muhammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, 3rd of December, 2005. [Click here for a screenshot in PDF format]
Use the player below or download the MP3 here.