Giving correct scholarly opinions to both Muslims and non-Muslims: Are Muslim women commanded to stay in their homes?

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Are Muslim women commanded to stay in their homes?

I submitted this question to the Ask a Mufti site. Because sites like Islam QA (whom we exposed before) like to use this verse to tell Muslim women today to stay in their houses.

Salaam, I know many Muslim scholars who say women are allowed to work and visit friends and all, providing they're properly clothed, but what does this Quran verse mean? "O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft in speech, lest he is whose heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil desire for adultery, etc.) should be moved with desire, but speak in an honorable manner. And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and offer prayers perfectly (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from you, O members of the family [of the Prophet (SAW)], and to purify you with a thorough purification." (Al-Ahzab 33:32-33) I know this tells women shouldn't wear attractive/provocative clothing, but what does it mean by "stay in your houses"?

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

The wives of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihe Wa Sallam were treated with an extra layer
of protection and honor as their rewards are increased as well.

Allah has addressed the mothers of believers to a higher level of commands by commanding
them to restrict themselves to their homes and not to leave the homes unnecessarily.
With regards to the rest of the believing women, if they are required to leave their homes for
work, visitation, necessities etc... then it is permissible.

And Allah knows best.
Mufti Ikram ul Haq
Darul Ifta of Rhode Island
2 Ramadhan 1431/ August 12 2010

Click here for the link

No comments:

Post a Comment

Salaam and welcome

The purpose of this blog is to give accurate and fair fatwas from notable scholars on the religion of Islam.

What's a fatwa?

A fatwa is an opinion or ruling by one who is knowledgeable about Islamic ethics. Usually these people are Imam's, Mufti's, or anyone who has done deep studies of Islam.

Why should we follow scholars?

The Prophet Muhammed (peace be upin him) said:

“Scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.”

A Quran verse is said to coincide with this hadith:

“Then We gave the Scripture as inheritance unto those whom We elected of Our servants.” [Qur'an, 35.32]

Another hadith states:

”The superiority of a scholar (alim) over the devout (abid) is like my superiority over a worshipper or like that of the moon in the night when it is full over the rest of the stars, and truly the scholars arc the heirs of the Prophets, and truly the Prophets do not leave behind them gold or silver, they only leave knowledge as their heritage. So whosoever acquires knowledge acquires a huge fortune.” (Transmitted by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and al Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.)

We pick and choose the most relevant opinions on major issues that many Muslims have either doubts or questions on.

The thing is there's many sites that give fatwas, but many of them are too extreme, flat out stupid or just wrong, all of whom contradict Islamic teachings. It's gets real tiring hearing about what some ulema (body of scholars) say about women, non-Muslims, and harmless customs. They judge, accuse and somtimes even degrade others. These people are suppose to guide us and help us, yet they're doing the opposite. Islam tells us only God and his Prophet (peace be upon him) can declrare what is haraam (forbidden), however these 'scholars' will find out ways to try and make whatever they want as haraam.
These are also feeders to anti-Islamic material. It makes us look even more worse than we're portrayed.

Another thing, there's many liberal and secular sites that are giving their own rulings, and they lack some of the basic Islamic education, most of which are found in kid's books. They are also doing significant damage to the ummah (worldwide Muslim community).

Our goal is to set things straight and educate both Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam. All of the postings on this blog are to-the-point As well, these posts are for our own benefit, so we can refer back to them when we need to.

The rulings and opinions from scholars on this blog are mostly selected from the following popular sites:

http://www.askthescholar.com/ (run by Sheikh Ahmed Kutty, labeled as one of the top 100 Muslims worldwide).
http://www.onislam.net/ (formerly IslamOnline, one of the most visited Islamic websites in the world).
http://www.muslimvillage.com/
http://www.askamufti.com/
http://en.islamtoday.net/
http://www.canadiancouncilofimams.com/
http://fiqhcouncil.org/
http://www.ali-gomaa.com/ (Grand Mufti of Egypt)
http://www.dar-alifta.org/ (headed by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, advises the Egyptian government on matters)

We are thankful to God that we have found these sites, as they are the only ones (as of now) who post relevant and reliable material. And we hope inshallah (God willing) other Muslims can benefit from them as well)

We also pick out videos from sites like Youtube that feature scholars giving lectures, or their opinions on certain matters.

WE NEVER ISSUE OUR OWN FATWAS, EVER. We have studied Islam and know it well enough to know what's in our religion and what isn't. We can tell what's a good fatwa and what isn't. This is just a heads up because we don't want to recieve emails critisizing us about our selection of fatwas. All the scholars featured on this blog are well known and respected. They aren't random people wanting to misguide the ummah.