Giving Women Secular Education

Q: Ilm-2: Many people in our area are sending their daughters to college and we notice that after taking admission, their dressing, their ways of life and every aspect of their lives change and they gradually even lose their modesty. Their parents send them only because they want them to attains some degree or another and to eventually occupy some important post. What is the ruling regarding sending them to such places for this reason?

Answer: Parents who send their children to colleges are really their enemies. It is stated in Majaalisul Abraar, "A friend is he who strives to rectify one's Aakhirah even at the expense of one's worldly comfort. On the other hand, an enemy is one who strived to destroy one's Aakhirah. even though there may be worldly benefits."
Hakeemul Ummah Hadhrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi RAH. said, "It is better to have them have Faalij (paralysis) then entering a college because while one harms the body, the other harms the Deen. The real disease is that which will develop by entering a college."

There is no doubt in the fact that those girls who attend colleges are the most free-thinking, most immodest and most against purdah. This is the result of nothing else but secular education. Even the late Sir Sayyid who was a staunch supporter of English education was forced to admit, "Likewise, girl's schools have also been established with an unpleasant modus operandi that convinces one that this system has been out in place only to make them wayward and to remove them from purdah."

When a woman loses her modesty, she has lost everything. Modesty is an exceptionally integral part of Imaan, because of which Rasulullaah SAW. said, "Verily modesty and Imaan are inseparable partners. When the one is removed, the other also leaves. From this, we can clearly see whether parents are friends or enemies of their children by sending them to college. Allaah says in the Qur'aan: "Save yourselves and your families from the Fire of Jahannam."

It is the parents who shall bear full responsibility for the corruption of their children's behaviour because a Hadith states. "Every child is born on Fitrah (the natural inclination to follow and practise Islaam). It is the parents who make the child into either a Jew, a Christian or a fire-worshipper."? While a person may progress materially by attending college, he certainly destroys his Aakhirah by doing so. Everything that causes such harm is Haraam and forbiddedn by virtue of the verse: "but the sin of it outweighs the benefit". Rasulullaah SAW. said, "Whoever loves his life in this world will damage his life in the Aakhirah and whoever loves his life in the Aakhirah will do damage to his life in this world. You should therefore give preference to that which is everlasting (the Aakhirah) over that which is temporary (this world)."

Hadhrat Salmaan Faarsi RADI. said, "When a person becomes indifferent towards the things of this world, his heart become illuminated with wisdom and his limbs assist him to worship Allaah. You should therefore give preference to that which is everlasting (the Aakhirah) over that which is temporary (this world). "

When a girl is close to coming of age and not yet of age, it will still be forbidden for her to go out of the house without purdah, just as it is for one of age. A Hadith states that a woman arrives in the form of a Shaytaan and leaves in the form of a Shaytaan. This means that just as Shaytaan whispers evil in to people's hearts, so too, a woman without purdah causes evil thoughts to develop in a person's mind.

Another Hadith states. "A woman is an object of concealment, so when she leaves her home, Shaytaan ogles at her (trying hard to involve her and others looking at her in sin)." Yet another Hadith states, "Allaah curses the one who looks (at a non-Mahram woman) and the one who is looked at." Rasulullaah SAW. also said, "Looking (at non'Mahram men and women) is the fornication of the eyes, hearing (them speaking) is the fornication of the ears, speaking (to them) is the fornication of the tongue and touching (them) is the fornication of the hands."

All the above develops when a woman emerges from her home without purdah. She therefore sins with every step she takes and also involves others in sin. The pure wives of Rasulullaah SAW. were instructed to "remain glued to your homes" and when it was very necessary to go out, they were instructed to "draw their jalaabeeb over themselves" (i.e. to cover themselves from head to toe). If they had this instruction, how can it not apply to other Muslim women? When women are not allowed to go to the Masjid for salaah, how can they attend colleges and universities? Then too, they go out wearing clothing that is as good as none at all. Rasulullaah SAW. mentioned that a time will come when women "will be dressed yet undressed and will therefore entice others and be prone to enticement themselves." About such women, Rasulullaah SAW. said, "they will not even smell the fragrance of Jannah" let alone enter Jannah. How can it be permissible for Muslim women to attend college and walk in front of non Mahram men wearing clothing that leaves nothing to the imagination?

Rasulullaah SAW. said, "If a man walks behind a woman and sees even the form of her bones, he will not even smell the fragrance of Jannah." This Hadith makes it clear that it is forbidden for a man to see the shape of a woman's body even though she wears heavy clothing that does not easily expose the body.

Fatawa Rahimiyyah (Vol.1)