A Fatwa For A Woman’s Entry Into The Shura Council Of An Islamic Party Or Grouping

Question: Is it permissible for a woman to enter the Shura Council for an Islamic group or party? Is the disagreement on this issue one of the issues of ijtihad in which the difference is justified, or is it not?

Answer: The fact that any issue is a matter of discretion does not mean that we accept the different opinions about it, and it does not mean that it is not an obligation for us to investigate the most correct, most likely, closest and most similar to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, peace be upon him.

Mujtahids will be rewarded if the intentions are sincere, but those who came after them or those who find new incentives must strive, and find out what is the most correct opinion, what is more likely ... What is the evidence for the preponderance ... This is a point.

The other point you should not lose sight of is that the judge’s ruling – the judge’s diligence – raises the dispute… If two people disagree on a matter, and they raise the issue to the judge, then the judge’s ruling is binding on them, but the judge’s ruling does not prevent the mufti, the teacher, the researcher, or the jurist from dealing with The issue is discussed in a theoretical and objective way, just as the fatwa of the Mufti does not prevent the judge from making diligence and ruling according to what he sees.. Each goes his way.

The issue we are dealing with is as close as possible to this example.. There is a body according to its system, which has the right to choose an opinion.

The issue that we are discussing now is within the scope of Ijtihad, but its entry into Ijtihad does not prevent others from researching and examining the evidence.

There is another thing that I would like to be close to your minds, which is that each of the laws has a spirit that runs in it, and general rules and principles that it adopts.. This is known to the men of earthly and non-earthly laws, that each of them has a spirit that runs in it, and this spirit is a set of orientations Ideas that have settled in the conscience of society cannot be overridden by any jurisprudence, or the establishment of a system or law, regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

Islamic Sharia, for example, is one of its features in which the flow of the spirit is applied: it always tends to remove embarrassment... This is a sublime spirit in which the mujtahid is guided by it.

Among its features as well with regard to our issue: We find that Islamic law works and desires to keep women away from contact with the society of men.

For example, when a woman wants to pray in the mosque, the Messenger, peace be upon him, does not forbid her,   rather   he says: Do not prevent the servants of Allah from the mosques of Allah.. Nevertheless, he, peace be upon him, makes it clear to her that her prayer in her home is better than her prayer in the mosque.. This is in line with this spirit of keeping the woman as far as possible from the man. Then if the woman comes to the mosque, the women’s rows are in the back, behind the men’s rows, running with this spirit.

Therefore, this spirit must be taken into account when making ijtihad in a case related to women.

There is another characteristic and spirit in force in the Shari’a..which is: that the Shari’a rulings when prescribed to a person are like medical prescriptions, so any prescription for the heart, for example, must take into account the other organs… The heart may benefit from medicine, but at the cost of destroying the liver. He prescribes a medicine that benefits the organ without causing harm to other organs, and the legal rulings are like this ( أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ) (Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted?). These provisions are taken into account in which the individual in society is taken into account as well as other individuals, and when making ijtihad, this must be taken into account, for example, the woman is not taken into account at the expense of the man’s status and nature, and the man is not considered alone, so that the woman is slow and no consideration remains.

And there is the issue of the rights and duties of men and women... Yes, women are the sisters of men.. But the rule is that where a man and a woman are equal in the context of the ruling, the two are equal in the ruling.. There is, for example, equality between the man and the woman in financial liability.. Each of them earns.. inherits. He behaves.. between them is also equal in that both of them are accountable, because each of them is characterized by maturity and intellect.

But if the suit differs, the ruling differs, and if we come to the issue of travel, for example, they differ. The men travel alone, but the woman must have a mahram according to the text of the words of the Messenger , peace be upon him, because she is wanted.. the desire of men, so she must have protection even if her travel is for Hajj.

Likewise, a woman differs from a man in the issue of the veil, so she does not reveal her hair or show her chest like a man, on the pretext that women are the sisters of men, and the same is the case in jihad: a woman by nature cannot bear it, and it is not a picnic, and therefore the Sharia did not obligate her, but it suits her in it some work, if she saw Going out is like cooking, washing, watering and treating the wounded.

In the matter of shura, men and women participate in it.. Here I heard the one who read the fatwa quoting from my book.. I think it was misquoted.

I had an opinion twenty or more years ago.. that a woman should not be an elector, nor an elected one, and this was in my book (Usul Al-Dawah), but now my opinion has changed, so I see that it is permissible for a woman to be an elector rather than an elect.

There is nothing wrong with a woman electing the Caliph, or the House of Representatives, because, in my view, the election is a testimony, a fatwa, and an agency, and these are matters that a woman may practice, and in addition to what was mentioned in (Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya) by Ibn Kathir of Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf’s consultation with women when electing Othman, may Allah be pleased with him.

As for why she is not elected, then there is the hadith: “Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler” And this hadith was said by the Messenger, peace and  blessings be upon him , when Buran, daughter of Khosrau, became queen of Persia. They chose a woman, they do not reconcile the farmer.

And the House of Representatives has a mandate, and so does every parliament. This government of Italy fell two days ago by a difference of one vote in the House of Representatives, which was against it.

Guardianship is the enforcement of the saying on others, whether he likes it or not.

The councils adopted by the bodies and parties are similar to the parliamentary councils in terms of powers, and they have jurisdiction over these bodies and parties.

And the state basically prevents women from it, and as it was forbidden there, it is forbidden here.

But some people dispute that. They say that a woman’s entry into the Shura Council is for the sake of enjoining good and forbidding evil.

And we say to him: Enjoining good and forbidding evil is a satisfactory duty. If some perform it, it falls away from others... So why the urgency and neglect on the part of some women, and on the part of those who help them to do that, to enter a council to do this satisfactory duty?

Although others have sufficed her... and the happy one is satisfied with others.

If a woman wants to practice shura, if she is qualified to do so, she can do so by writing, writing, lecturing...etc.

And we have a principle in Sharia which is to block the means, i.e., the lawful act becomes forbidden if it leads to corruption. For example, striking the ground with her feet for a woman is permissible, but when this beating shows the sound of her anklets and her adornment, and others look at her, it prevents that:

(وَلَا يَضْرِبْنَ بِأَرْجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعْلَمَ مَا يُخْفِينَ مِن زِينَتِهِنَّ)

(And let them not stamp their feet to make known what they conceal of their adornment).

Such submissiveness in speech is prevented by a woman in the presence of strangers in order to ward off evil:

(فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ)

(do not be soft in speech [to men], lest he in whose heart is disease should covet)

This principle is self-existent, and it is the Blocking Of Pretexts, in addition to the spirit that permeates the Sharia, which is to reduce women’s going out and prevent their contact with men ( وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ) (And abide in your houses), and prophet ( ﷺ) as saying; (it is more excellent for a woman to pray in her house) and (No person (man) should be alone with a woman)… Does all this agree with including it in the Shura Council or the House of Representatives, and the crowding of men...?? On the pretext that she performs a sufficient duty... and is exposed to temptation and leaves her home, and perhaps she neglects her personal duty of obedience to a husband, taking care of a home, and so on...!?

Is there a need or necessity for that...?!!

Moreover, assuming public office is not a right, but rather an obligation, and it was reported in Sahih al-Bukhari that Abu Musa al-Ash’ari said that (I called on the Prophet ( ﷺ) with two of my cousins. One of them said to him: "O Messenger of Allah ( ﷺ), appoint me governor of some land over which Allah has given you authority." The other also requested for something of the same nature. Messenger of Allah ( ﷺ) said, "By Allah we do not appoint someone to this post who seeks it or someone who contends for it).

If the public job is a right, then the right holder does not lose it if he asks for it, or is keen on it.

But the correct view is that a public job is a duty, and enjoining good and forbidding evil in councils is of this sort, and it is a sufficient obligation as we mentioned, and it is not permissible to be keen on this public office that is sufficient for men, let alone women who are established in Sharia as we mentioned.

And matters should take their legal limits..and we should not blindly imitate, nor be persistent .

What the assembly went for regarding women goes on. It is a matter of jurisprudence like the judge’s ruling, but that does not prevent the issue from being discussed objectively and legally, just as the mufti studies an issue that a judge has ruled, or the teacher studies an issue that a judge has ruled.. Each goes his way.

I say this, and I ask forgiveness from Allah Almighty.

Sheikh Abdul Karim Zidan