Question : A question was asked regarding [the validity of] mixed gender schools.

Fatwa in Brief: Mixed gender education (ikhtilat) is not permitted; therefore, studying in mixed schools is also not permitted.

The Permanent Committee, 3/103

Response:

Leaving one’s study or work because men and women are permitted to mix there is to commit the greater of the two sins. According to the law, Muslims are instructed to commit the lesser evil whenever this is possible. If excesses do occur, one should advice Muslims with wisdom and kindness.

Commentary:

Some degree of social mixing has existed between men and women since the dawn of Islam. This has occurred in markets, mosques and so on. Yet, such mixing has always been subject to restrictions, based upon Islamic legal ethics. The fact is that work or study places are necessarily public; thus, [the ruling] is the same as if a Muslim was walking in the road, or had gone to the market, and/or any other form of public meeting. In such instances, each gender must act in accordance with the demands of Muslim law and ethics. Regarding this matter, we turn to the verses:

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest”. (Q. 24: 30)

And:

“Tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their adornments only that is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms”. (Q. 24: 31)

According to the Prophet’s Sunna, men and women are to avoid mixing together, intimacies in secluded spaces, physical contact [that may lead to sexual provocation], suggestive comments, strong perfumes, places in which many people mill around [bodies are pressed against each other], and any action that results in the lowering of one’s ethical standards.

In addition to behaving ethically, both Muslim men and women should make sure to redirect those do not behave ethically. On this point, God’s words:

“And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends, one of another; they enjoin the right and forbid the wrong”. (Q. 9: 71)

This should be in a wise manner/way, in which a Muslims seeks obedience or at least to save him/herself from the sin of not behaving as God says:

“And when a community among them said: why preach ye to a folk whom Allah is about to destroy and punish with an awful doom, they said: in order to be free from guilt before your Lord, and that haply they may ward off (evil)”. (Q. 7: 164)

It is illegal to remain silent regarding the violation of ethics, according to what God said:

“Ye have charge of your own souls. He who erreth cannot endure you if ye are rightly guided”. (Q. 5: 105)

As mentioned in numerous texts, people will not learn to behave ethically until they understand the command to promote good and to forbid evil. If one’s advice [to promote good and to forbid evil] is not at first grasped, it is obligatory to treat the evil-doers in a way that shows your dissatisfaction with them. In this way, they may eventually rectify their behaviour.

It is difficult for someone to leave his/her study or work, because men and women mix there. After all, most fields – both nationally and internationally – involve such mixing. It is a legal obligation to consider this matter seriously and cautiously. For, in this era, the complete separation of men and women is impossible in most places. To walk away from one’s studies or work out of a fear of mixing with someone from the opposite sex is actually a greater sin than remaining in the study/work place. It is a waste of knowledge, and weakens one’s work and the Umma. [As stated above] It is incumbent upon Muslims to do the opposite: commit the lesser of two sins. Hence, one should strive to gain knowledge and work experience, even though this involves one sharing one’s study/work place with someone of the opposite sex. In addition to that, advising with wisdom is a legal obligation which lifts all blame and sin (from the advisor). And God knows best.

Dr. Yassir ‘Abd al-‘Azim