Do Wives Need Permission From Their Husbands To Take Islamic Classes Online?

Answered by Ustadh Abdus Shakur Brooks

QUESTION

Does a wife have to get her husband’s permission to take sacred knowledge classes online or within the distance she is permitted to travel?

ANSWER

Ibn Hajj al-Fasi a well respected Maliki scholar of the 8th century A.H, addresses the issue of a wife’s right to seek knowledge in his renowned work Al-Madkhal (in which he discusses various topics such as fiqh, sulook and bid’ah) saying:

“ If a woman is married it is obligatory for her husband to teach/educate her if she is unaware of the rules of shari’ah. If he does not do so, she is allowed to request that of him. If he does not teach/educate her, she is allowed to request from him the permission to go out of the home to seek knowledge. If he does not permit her to go out for that purpose then it is permissible [according to the shari'ah] for her to go out without out his permission.“

Shaykh Ibn Hajj makes the point here that it is permissible for a woman to disobey her husband by going out of the house without his permission if he prohibits her from learning the rules of the shari’ah either by him not teaching her or by him refusing her to leave the house in order to seek it. In this case she acquires no sin whatsoever in disobeying him if she goes out, contrary to the general rule concerning women who leave their houses without the permission or consent of the husband for they are sinners. A woman in this case must first follow the necessary steps before she is permitted to disobey her husband; first requesting to learn from him, then by seeking his permission to leave the house to seek knowledge. Thus, it is not permitted for a woman to disobey her husband before these steps are taken. It is both necessary and wise for her to make her requests in the utmost patient and respectful manner without any form of disrespect. As for the man, Ibn Hajj mentions in the same book a page before:

“If the husband was not knowledgeable [concerning the matters she is seeking to learn like menses for example]then it is obligatory (wajib) for him to seek someone to teach it to him in order that he teach it to her or grant her the permission to leave the house in order to seek knowledge, and if he were to refuse her to go out then she should go out and there is no sin on her in doing so and nor is she considered sinful.”

Thus it is haram for the husband to deprive her from learning about Islam – which he is liable to be punished for unless Allah grants him forgiveness. So just as it is permissible for her to leave the house without her husbands permission, more so it is permissible for her to take online courses since that does not require here to leave home. The general rule is that it is not permissible for a woman to leave her home without her husband’s permission or consent except under a few exceptions which are due to necessity like the preservation of religious practice which is the case here that Ibn Hajj [may Allah have mercy on him] is addressing.

Source : al-faqih.com