i have a question regrading the learder of MSA club. i want to know if she can be the president of MSA club because general hadith of women cant be leader even it is not premissable i want to get this answer please also when dawah is given that certain sister doesnt cover up properly which isnt right at all even thow makeup is involved and plucking the eye brows is too it seems to me that all these haram will lead someone who is embracing islam in a different way i really want to know i gave proof and etc they didnt accept but i want to know if its permissible or not????

Alhamdu Lillah

The scholar are unanimous that a woman ca not be the head of the state, a slight difference whether or not she can be a judge, and a strong difference in opinion on what is beyond that from the authorities.

 In the US-like many other countries- the universities are mixed (two genders students). Males are females have equal opportunities in pursuing degrees and participating in the cultural, educational, and social activities in the university. Meanwhile, women sometimes show talents, skills, and dedication in their work more than men. So, within these given circumstances, it is hard to deprive women from participating in activities or from being elected for some leadership positions due to the religious restrictions we have as Muslims, especially, when the decision is not ours.

Nevertheless, if a group of brothers and sisters in a university agree on separating their activities, no one can stop them, as this is a part of the freedom we enjoy in the US, Wa Alhamdu Lillah.

It is important here to mention here that the ideal situation in the higher education institutes, high schools, middle, and even elementary schools is to have single-sex schools. AMJA has an official declaration in this regard;

Intermixing between Men and Woman:

• Intermixing is a concise expression. There is the permissible of it as well as the impermissible. Of this and that there is the agreed upon and of it is the differed over.

• If what is intended by it is the basic gathering of men and women in open places to take part in shared acts of religion or worldly affairs – along the consideration of the sharee’ah etiquettes of hijab, lowering the gaze, organizing the gathering with what aids that, then there is no harm in it. Of this is the gathering of men and women in the open spaces to attend the two Eid prayers, the rituals of Hajj, the open gatherings of knowledge whether it is in the masjid or elsewhere, and the going out of women to tend to their needs amidst the people. This is so alongside seeing that the women properly observe Hijab and they are distanced from men as best they can. Also, both parties are to observe reservation and the lowering of the gaze. Emphasis is made though on the importance of separating between the genders in the educational institutions, for this is more preserving of values, more distant from tribulation, more severing of means (towards promiscuity), and more prompting of the student of knowledge’s mental focus. Some educational institutions in the west have even begun to realize this.

• If what is intended by it is the mingling of the two parties and permeation of their ranks (by one another), then this is upon the default prohibition so long as no urgent necessity or strong need recognized be sharee’ah arises. Of these needs are those explicit in the texts, and of them are those that are deduced by qiyaas (i.e. juristic reasoning via analogy), and from them is what exists in wars, legal proceedings, medical treatments, and their likes. This is so while keeping in mind that urgent necessities and strong needs are to be given their proper estimate.

• In the case where intermixing is permissible due to an urgent necessity or strong need, there are guidelines that must be attended to in all cases. Of them are: lowering the gaze, avoiding immorality and informality, forbidding seclusion and bodily contact, preventing crowding, reserved conduct, concealing the ‘Awraat (i.e. body parts whose public visibility is forbidden in sharee’ah), and organizing the gathering in a manner that would aid in lowering the gaze as much as possible.

• Placing women in public gatherings as program introducers or hosts of the guests or the likes isn’t included among the acceptable needs, while there are in the gathering men that can assume these actions with the same degree of performance.

• Familial gatherings on shared, mixed tables for the sake of some social activity such as fundraising or a wedding dinner or its likes isn’t included among the acceptable needs.

• There are factors that affect the tightening and loosening (of rulings) around this subject. What appears from textual analysis and the actions of the salaf is that intermixing differs depending on the ages of the men and women, the need prompting it, and the atmosphere it is found in of tribulation or lack thereof. The determining factor in this is the weighing of the pros and cons involved, and it is upon those responsible to seek the verdict of the people of knowledge in their particular environment and act upon their fatwa in that.

• The prime stance in this issue is that it is mandatory to safeguard the Islamic values that the sharee’ah directs to of virtuosity, shame, concealment, and reservation, while acknowledging the need for men and women to share in the fields of good actions and cooperation upon righteousness and piety, da’wah and reform, and the like- to give precedence to the outweighing benefit over the imagined harm (i.e. fallaciously assumed danger).

Secondly: Regarding the Relationship between the Two Genders:

• The exchange of emotional expressions before marriage is impermissible due to it being a means to tribulation and a medium for falling into fornication. This is especially so in this age of our where the authority of religion in the souls has weakened, the morals have been corrupted, and the virtuous principles have declined. There is no harm in speaking with a foreign woman in goodness if there is no seclusion or doubt (i.e. fear of temptation) and there is a legitimate urgency or need for that, be it religious or otherwise.

• There is no harm in the communication of the two genders in goodness if there be a need and an absence of doubt. We advise that the one of the guardians takes part in the correspondence so as to repel the possibility of (falling under the ruling of) seclusion. As for simple chit-chat and spending time (together), then this is of the means of tribulation, and of the footsteps of Shaytan.

• The default is the lowering of the gaze in gatherings of men and women, and it is consented to look at women for a need such as education, testimony, judicial proceedings, medical care, and the likes.

• The default is that the woman isn’t to travel except with a husband or a Mahram relative. It is permissible though, with the consent of the husband or guardian, the availability of trustworthy companionship, and the absence of doubt, for the woman to travel without a Mahram for a legitimate need such as attending beneficial Islamic conferences, keeping ties of kin, exercising necessary rights like asking the ruler or filing a complaint, etc… if there is a Mahram for her at her destination or she is secure of harm therein.

For more details, please check the link: http://www.amjaonline.com/en_d_details.php?id=322