Mufti Online — Madrasah Ta'leemuddeen

Woman communicating with non-mahram males for work reasons

· 3 Shaʻban 1439 AH1 min readEnglish

Question

I am a woman who studied engineering and am now working from home for a network security company. For my work, I have to correspond with non-mahrams to give them updates. These chats are fully official and I try my best to keep them short and if possible, avoid them totally. I have to give an update to my boss everyday which requires, on average 5-7 texts every day, and sometimes, I need help from other co-workers so I communicate with them via chats without any video. Is my job permissible?

Answer

Under normal circumstances, if your husband is taking care of you then we do not recommend that you take on this type of job where you will have to communicate with men. If you are under financial constraints and you exercise maximum precaution then we will not ask you to leave the job. However, you have to be extremely careful of how you conduct yourself, and after taking precaution, beg Allah’s forgiveness for any discrepancy and mistake.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

References (Arabic / Urdu sources)

وَ قَرنَ فِی بُیُوتِکُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجنَ تَبَرُّجَ الجَاهلِیَّة الاُولٰی وَ اَقِمنَ الصَّلٰوةَ وَ اٰتِينَ الزَّکٰوةَ وَ اَطِعنَ اللّٰه وَرَسُولَه ؕ اِنَّمَا یُرِیدُ اللّٰهُ لِیُذهبَ عَنکُمُ الرِّجسَ اَهلَ البَیتِ وَ یُطَهرَکُم تَطهِیرًا (الأحزاب 33)

عن علي رضي الله عنه أنه كان عند النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال أي شيء خير للمرأة فسكتوا قال فلما رجعت قلت لفاطمة أي شيء خير للنساء قالت لا يرين الرجال ولا يرونهن فذكرت ذلك للنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال إنما فاطمة بضعة مني (كنز العمال، الرقم: 46012، مسند البزار، الرقم: 526)

فروع استأجر امرأته لتخبز له خبزا للأكل لم يجز (الدر المختار 6/62)

قال العلامة ابن عابدين رحمه الله (قوله لم يجز) لأن هذا العمل من الواجب عليها ديانة لأن النبي قسم الأعمال بين فاطمة وعلي فجعل عمل الداخل على فاطمة وعمل الخارج على علي (رد المحتار 6/62)

Answered by
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
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Questions about this ruling, answered only from the archive with sources.

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Source: Mufti Online — Madrasah Ta'leemuddeen — https://muftionline.co.za/node/25519
Fatawa SA: https://fatawa.co.za/fatwa/muftionline-25519

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