Women

100631

Is it permissible for Muslim women to wear high heels?

Zaid Alsalami, Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from... Answered 5 hours ago

Bismihi ta'ala

Yes, it is permissible for Muslim women to wear high heels, as long as it is not considered as zeenah that should be concealed, and does not attract lustful gazes of non-mahram men.

And Allah knows best.

98498

Women . Police

Can Muslim women be police officers or should they look for a different career path?

Bismihi ta'ala

This is a bit of a complicated question, because it can be looked at from various angles.

Assuming that the question is asked by a woman living in a non-Islamic country.

We will have to consider a few scenarios that would occur and will determine whether she is able to overcome these situations, from a shar'i perspective.

Will she be able to observe her correct hijab, and modesty, along with her other religious obligations, like salat, sawm, etc.

As a police-woman, there could be situations where she will have to freely mix with non-mahrams, like a non-mahram male police partner, and that could be a problem.

There would be situations where she will have to physically handle a man, and if it not emergency cases, then that could also be a problem, from a shar'i perspective.

Will she be enforcing something that is legally lawful, but religious prohibited. That is going to be an issue as well.

What if she chooses to work a desk job, and not patrolling the streets, for example? In this case, she also needs to look at whatever scenarios that could arise, and decide whether it is suitable for her or not.

Yes, we understand that in every occupation there are going to be challenges, and shar'i matters that a woman, and even a man, must take into consideration when they choose their career path. However, that being said, it is always best to be realistic and find something that one will be comfortable with and also represent their deen in the best way possible.

Personally, I believe we Muslims in the West do need female police officers, not just for the purpose of showing that a Muslim woman can be in the work force, but so that she can contribute in educating her colleagues more about how the Muslim community is. But of course, as long as it does not clash with her religious and family commitments.

And Allah knows best.

98584

Kitab . Najis . Marriage . Women . Ahl al-Bayt . Mut'a (Temporary marriage)

Are Ahlul Kitab considered Najis? If so, then why are we allowed to do temporary marriage with their women?

Bismihi ta'ala

This question is similar to many other fiqhi questions, where one would need to refer to his/her Marja' taqleed.

That being said, according to the view of most of our esteemed jurists, Ahlul Kitab are not najis, and as for temporary marriage with a Kitabiyah woman, most Maraji' also deem it as halal.

And Allah knows best.

98546

Women . Menstruation . Wudu (Ablution) . Iftar

If women perform Wudu during menstruation, does anything they do break it?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 1 month ago

It is recommended for the women during her menstruation period to perform Wudhu in the time of Prayers and wear her prayers dress and sit on her place of prayers and be busy in remembering Allah for time like her prayer time. This Wudhu break like any other Wudhu although such Wudhu does not allow her to perform Namaz because of her menstruation.

Wassalam.

97481

Women . House . Husband

Why is it not allowed for women to step out of the house without the husband's permission as many males take advantage of this rule and restrict their wives from going out completely?

Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answered 1 month ago

This subject has been broached here, and perhaps the fact that you are asking about it will encourage others to add some thoughts on it.

https://www.al-islam.org/ask/why-does-a-husband-have-the-power-in-islam-...

94687

Women . Ahl al-Bayt . Abaya

Why do Muslim women only wear black Abayas in Muslim majority countries? Is it Sunnah of the women of Ahlul Bayt? Is it permissible to wear bright colored Abayas in non-Muslim countries as wearing black might draw unnecessary attention?

For the most part, we don't have strong historical evidence about the details of what women from the Ahl al-Bayt (A) were wearing, apart from a few situations where there was a reason to mention a specific fabric or something.

Anyway, without being an expert in the history of clothing, it seems that in some places, the tendency to wear black is pre-modern (and I suspect due to convenience) and in some places it is a product of modernity. When discussing today's "Islamic fashions", it is worth keeping in mind that what we have access to today is largely due to industrialization - for instance, the production of synthetic fabrics, cheap stretchy socks, and mass-produced garments - and people in the past did not have these things. Also, the concept of global "Islamic fashion" (often epitomized by the black Saudi-style abayah) is relatively new and probably due to globalization; up until recent decades, Muslims seemed to tend to wear their own regional styles more.

(There are, however, some interesting books about the history of clothing in the Muslim world, if it is a subject of interest, as well as some early photographs)

To my knowledge, in places like Iran, in the past, it was more common to wear coloured chadors, but in the 20th century, black became the popular colour.

Anyway, shari'ah in and of itself does not regulate what colour you have to wear. However, a general principle is that of 'urf; that is, one should dress in such a way which is considered normal in the area and does not attract attention (unless there is a clear reason to do otherwise, for instance, everyone may be wearing a bikini on the beach, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate to wear a bikini). So colours are one of the matters of 'urf; in some places, it might be normal and appropriate to wear bright colours, and in other places, such as Qom, it might attract a lot of attention or be an inappropriate form of social signalling. Non-Muslm countries also tend to vary widely in their 'urf regarding the colours people wear so it is really left to one's individual judgment, or you could ask people around you if you are concerned.

Anyway, as is said, Allah is beautiful and loves beauty, and Allah created all the colours and did not make any of them inherently taboo.*

(*apart from cases where wearing certain colours is specifically considered makruh, this is not the main subject here)

92642

Women . Qur'an . Man . Polygamy

Why does it seem like the Quran is talking to men and not women such as when it says 'your wives' and 'your women'? Why doesn't the Quran address women directly?

There are a few reasons, including:

* Modesty (regarding explicit subjects, the Qur'an tends to be more modest and address men specifically as well as use euphemisms, even if both men and women are intended)
* Generality (zawj/azwaj can be understood in some cases to mean "spouses" in general and not specifically "wives" as it is often translated)
* In some cases, it is specifically addressing men and speaking about women (for instance, the verse about zihar when it talks about men divorcing their wives via zihar)

So it really depends on the verse. A good resource to look at for varying interpretations of verses is _The Study Quran_ edited by S. H. Nasr.

Hope that helps!

92643

Paradise . Women . Qur'an . Man

I don’t understand why the Quran promises virgins to men in paradise. Is this not a sort of objectification of women and implying that virgins are better? And if men get virgins, what do women get?

This question has been discussed to some degree here: https://www.al-islam.org/ask/topics/7744/questions-about-Houris

Anyway, it seems that this is said in the Qur'an as a form of encouragement (just as some things about Hell can be seen as a discouragement from doing certain things). Apparently this must have been or indeed must be encourgaging to men. As for why men are addressed and promised this instead of women, some might say it is out of modesty, although I might also suggest that perhaps men need a little more encouragement sometimes! :)

As for what virginity means in the Hereafter... that is more complicated question. One would assume that the physics of things is somewhat different there, and while there is a means for 2 beings to relate which is analagous to how 2 beings relate here, it is unlikely to involve all of the specific physiological details of earthly virginity.

There is also a certain logic behind saying that the huris are "not touched by jinn or men", since (a) it is generally held that jinn have their own Paradise and so they wouldn't be interacting with them anyway, and (b) there won't be people in Paradise until the judgment, so they wouldn't have had anyone to have a relationship with before. (c) Also since there are so many of them, perhaps they are all created as exact matches (soul-mates, if you will) to their human partners and not necessarily compatible with others.

As for women, seeing as it is said that we can more or less have whatever we want in Paradise, there is no reason what women should not have virgins, if that is what they would like.

That being said, I am sure you will agree that men are the cause of 90% of headaches for women in this world, so I would not be surprised if some women decide they would like some peace and quiet instead!

(With all apologies to our male colleagues who may completely disagree :) )

Anyway, Allah speaks to us according to our understanding in this world, when it comes to matters outside of this world, there is a certain amount of guesswork or theorizing when it comes to these questions. It is however an interesting question to ponder.

92618

Women . Nose

Are women allowed to get a nose job?

Bismihi ta'ala

Yes, one is allowed to undergo plastic surgery, like rhinoplasty, and it is halal in itself. Of course, one must be observant of other things that it could entail that could be haram, like touching of a non-mahram, etc.

And Allah knows best.

73434

Hadith . Dajjal . Women . Sunni-Shi'a

Do the Shia have any authentic Hadith that suggests that most of Dajjal's followers will be women?

I did not find any authentic Hadeeth in Shia books of Hadeeth suggesting that most of Dajjal's followers will be women. It is narrated in many Sunni books e.g. Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal from Abdullah Ibn Omar.

Wassalam.

90852

Women . Respect . Mahram . Man . Salah (Prayers)

Why do women stand behind men in prayer? I read somewhere that it was to respect them and to prevent the men from staring at them and that makes sense to me. But why do they have to follow that rule in their own homes with Mahram relatives?

Bismihi ta'ala

This is an interesting question, and it can be tackled from different angles.

In general, the ruling is that a female (mahram or non-mahram) cannot pray beside or in front of a male. This is not purely a matter of preventing men from unlawful glancing, because if that was the case, then a wife could pray in front of a husband.

Islam focuses on elevating the status of a women beyond her being sexualised by others, and even by herself. This can be seen not only in mandating hijab, but even in the obligatory or recommended (mustahab) acts in prayer, like how she prostrates, and how she stands back up.

This is all for the purpose of preserving her modesty, and also to eliminate any likelihood of a lustful gaze (haram or halal), during prayer in particular, for the purpose of gaining that absolute concentration in prayer.

Of course, we are assuming that this is just one of the reasons behind the ruling. It's similar to the story of Prophet Moses (a.s.) and the daughters of Prophet Shu'ayb (a.s.). However, the reality is that like many other rulings, we do not have the precise reason for it. There could certainly be more reasons.We are just assuming that it is a matter of convenience and a spiritual matter for concentration, but it could be more than that.

The main issue is in prayer we need to attain ḥudhūr al-qalb, which is presence of the heart.We need to be concentrating completely on our prayer, and remove anything that would distract us.

We understand that it is also the very natural structure of the female that Almighty God has created with her beauty and attraction that could contribute to a male (her mahram or non-mahram) being distracting and glancing at her.

Please look at all the other rulings for prayer, which can also hint to how important it is to avoid loss of concentration, like praying in front of an image, etc.

It could also be for convenience, so a woman does not feel embarrassed or exposed when she is bending down for ruku' or sujud.

And so on.

Furthermore, please refer to your Marja' taqleed on this ruling, because there are some jurists who consider it mustahab, and not wajib.

And Allah knows best.

89873

Mahram . Family . Women . Man

Do you have to cover your arms and legs in front of Mahram family? Can you specifically explain the rules of what is allowed to remain uncovered for men and women when they are with their Mahram family members?

It depends on the age and situation of you and the Mahram member of your family. It is not obligatory to cover your arms and legs in from of an old Mahram being sure that uncovering arms and legs will never cause nor initiate unwanted feeling. In general, it is not obligatory to cover in front of Mahram, that parts of your body which are usually uncovered at home with your family, provided that it should not cause bad feeling of desire or shame.

Wassalam.