 What is the position of the religion of Islam when it comes to women working? We all know that Islam has imposed the obligation of financial responsibilities on the man, the husband. According to Islamic law, a father who has children to support, a husband who has a wife to support is obligated by Islamic law to work. That is an obligation. The religion of Islam does not impose a similar obligation on women, but are they allowed to work or just because Islam did not obligate them, we conclude that Islam does not want them to work. The religion of Islam does not ban women from working contrary to what many people think around the world. Right now if you ask an average person here in the West, in the States, in Canada, can a woman work or not in the religion of Islam? Is she allowed to work or not? You will get very surprising responses. You know recently when Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women driving, it revealed a lot about how people actually think about the religion of Islam. Millions of people, non-Muslims, even some Muslims around the world really believe that the Qur'an bans women from driving. I myself have had discussions with Canadians and Americans who have told me specifically that they were under the impression that the Qur'an, which by the way was revealed 14 centuries ago when you had no cars, bans women from driving. This is how deeply rooted this misconception is. Similarly when it comes to working, many are under the impression that Islam bans women from working. So what is the position of the religion of Islam? We know it doesn't obligate them obviously but are they allowed to work if they want to? Islam permits women to work if certain guidelines are observed, if Islamic guidelines of modesty and chastity are observed, then the religion of Islam has no problem with women working. They're free to work, it's optional for them if they would like to work and help out with the finances of their house, they are most welcome to do so. But they just have to be more careful because women in our society are more targeted when it comes to certain types of harassment than men. You see there is a hadith and some people take this hadith out of context. There is a beautiful narration from the Holy Prophet ﷺ in which he talks about the signs of the end of times before the reappearance of our Imam ﷺ. Salman has a conversation with the Prophet, the Prophet is talking to his companions specifically to Salman. Salman hears the Prophet listing the signs of the end of times. The Prophet mentions many interesting details in this hadith. So for instance the Prophet says that towards the end of times people will be dutiful and good with their friends but they will be neglectful to their parents. Look at Western society today. Friends are the most important people in your life. Just look at teenagers, those in their 20s, college students. The time that they spend with their friends is a lot more than the time they spend with their parents. In fact I've seen so many of our youth, they're so sensitive when it comes to their friends. They always want to keep their friends happy. The last thing they want to do is upset their friends, right? But when it comes to their parents, honestly they don't care. If their father is upset with them, disappointed, if their mother is disappointed, they couldn't care less. It's not important what their parents think, but what their friends think is really important. Isn't it so in our society today? Many of our youth, they really care about how their friends view them. How they see them, how they treat them. But when it comes to their parents, you don't see that much concern. You're not as concerned with how their parents view them. So the Prophet mentions this in this hadith. Then the Prophet says, one of the signs of the end of times. And a woman, a wife will join her husband in working. She will join the workforce. Now the Prophet doesn't say whether this is good or bad. He's just saying this as a sign. But if you look at the tone of the hadith, the Prophet is telling us about the moral state of the end of times. So we can consider what the Prophet says in a negative tone, meaning that when women will join the workforce, there's going to be a negative consequence. Now many have taken this hadith and said, hey, see the religion of Islam discourages women from working because it considers it one of the signs of the end of times. It's looked down upon. How do we understand a phrase like that coming from the Prophet? When we look at the position of the religion of Islam, Islam is not saying women should not join the workforce. It means they should be careful when they join the workforce. So they don't abandon their motherly responsibilities. If you can combine between being a responsible mother and a mother who works outside, perfect. But if you cannot, don't choose working outside over your role of being a mother. Never do that because if you sacrifice your role of being a mother, then you have lost the well-being of your family. And this is what many people will do at the end of times. They will sacrifice the well-being of their family at the expense of working outside. This is what the Prophet is discouraging people to do. Don't abandon your motherly role. Keep that as a priority. And if you can work, do so. No problem. But don't abandon that role. So this is how we can understand a hadith like this. And back to our previous point, the religion of Islam puts guidelines for women to work outside the house, provided that their chastity and honor is preserved. Why do I say this? Brothers and sisters, when we talk about these discussions, some people think that some religious people or those who claim to understand Islam or backwards, they don't understand what's going on in society today. We have to look at the statistics in our society. What's happening out there in the workplace? We find, according to statistics, that married women who work in the workplace, they are much more likely to fall into immorality and infidelity. This is a fact. This is not something that we can deny. Because today, in many offices in the workplace, the situation is as such, a woman is constantly working with a male partner, with a male coworker. And sometimes they get very intimate in their work, right, spending hours and hours next to each other talking, and they develop very strong bonds due to the nature of their work. Well, what is the consequence of that? When you're exposed to another man more than your husband, and you're talking to him more than your husband, and you're chatting to him more than your husband, what's going to happen? So the religion of Islam tells our sisters, be careful. You can go out there and work, but you have to maintain your Islamic guidelines. Now does that mean that men are off the hook, there's no guidelines for them? Of course not. But women are more targeted than men when it comes to harassment. When you look at victims of harassment, especially in the workplace, who's doing the harassing more? Men are women. Of course, men. Most of the cases of harassment are coming from men, meaning the women are targets, right? They are being targeted. So a woman can pursue working, but she just needs to be aware that she will be targeted. Let her develop an environment that is healthy for her, that protects her chastity, that protects her from many types of unwanted advances and many types of harassment. So the religion of Islam does allow women to work, provided that these guidelines are preserved. Now some of you will come back and say, wait a minute, but we hear our scholars in Marajah stating that the permission of the husband is required. So is it required or not? Many scholars say, first of all, that if a woman working means that she still fulfills her marital obligations, that's fine. She doesn't necessarily need his permission. Yes, if her working means that she will have shortcomings when it comes to her marital obligations, then she needs, of course, the permission of her husband. Many scholars have said that, yet there are scholars today. Some very well-known Marajah today whose fatwa is, even if the wife is fulfilling her marital obligations, she still needs the permission of her husband when it comes to work. So how do we address this concern? One way to resolve this concern is at the time of marriage, when you're doing the marriage contract, right? The kattabik tab, the nikah, the akad, you name it, whenever you're doing that marriage contract, a woman has the right to stipulate in the marriage contract that I want to work without requiring the permission of my husband. And if they agree on this marriage contract, then she no longer needs the permission of her husband. So that's one solution for this. From day one, she has to make it clear to her husband, I wish to work and you cannot stop me from doing so. If he accepts and they get married, then that condition is binding. He has no right to stop her from working. Now let's say no such contract was made and initially the husband consented to his wife working. She found a work, she found some work and she went there, she started working and he gave his permission, then later he changed his mind. He told her, you know what? I don't want you to work anymore and he really doesn't have legitimate concerns. He just, there are some men, they're really bullies, right? They just like to boss their wives around and they are irrational in a lot of their decisions. So let's say he's being irrational and he had already given his consent. Many scholars have said if he's already given his consent and based on that she went and found work and started working, he can no longer stop her. He does not have the authority nor the right to stop her from working after giving his consent. So if these Islamic guidelines are observed, then the religion of Islam has no problem with women working.