Fatwa fi Tahrim al-Talim al-Mukhtalit - ضمن «Muhadarat al-Shanqiti»
- Author died
- 1393 AH
- Editions
- Dar 'Ata'at al-'Ilm
Fatwa fi Tahrim al-Talim al-Mukhtalit (A Legal Ruling on the Prohibition of Coeducational Education) is a legal treatise authored by the Mauritanian scholar Muhammad al-Amin al-Shinqiti (d. 1393 AH / 1974 CE), addressing the Islamic legal prohibition of gender mixing in university and school settings .
Background and Context of Composition
The treatise originated as a formal written response dictated by al-Shinqiti to an official query (Letter No. 35) sent on 27 Muharram 1389 AH by the president of the Social Reform Society in Kuwait (Jam'iyyat al-Islah al-Ijtima'i bi-al-Kuwayt), inquiring about the legal ruling regarding coeducation in university studies and its resulting societal harms .
The text was subsequently compiled as the sixth lecture within the collected lectures of the author, titled al-Muhadarat, which forms part of the comprehensive project of al-Shinqiti's works edited and published under the supervision of Bakr Abu Zayd by Dar 'Alam al-Fawa'id . In that collected edition, the editors relied on a computer-transcribed copy of the treatise and bound it in a single volume alongside al-Shinqiti's al-Rihlah ila Ifriqya and his collection of fatwas .
Legal Arguments and Structure
Al-Shinqiti structures his fatwa around proofs derived from the Quran, the Prophetic Sunnah, the legal maxims of Islamic jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and arguments regarding Arab cultural norms and natural protective jealousy (ghayrah) .
Quranic Evidences and Juristic Deduction
Al-Shinqiti cites several key Quranic passages to demonstrate the prohibition of coeducation:
- The Verse of the Partition (Ayat al-Hijab): Drawing on Surat al-Ahzab (33:53), وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُنَّ مَتَاعًا فَاسْأَلُوهُنَّ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ ذَلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ ("And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts"), al-Shinqiti demonstrates through usul al-fiqh that an effective legal cause ('illah) generalizes its ruling . Citing Sidi Abd Allah walad al-Hajj Ibrahim's Maraqi al-Su'ud and its commentary Nashr al-Bunud, he argues that the stated cause—maintaining maximum heart purity from suspicion—applies universally to all Muslim women across all generations . He adds that by contrary implication (mafhum al-mukhalafah), direct unpartitioned interaction is corruptive and impure for hearts .
- Lowering the Gaze: Citing Surat al-Nur (24:30–31), he notes that God commanded both men and women to lower their gaze before commanding them to guard their private parts, because illicit looking serves as the direct conduit to fornication .
- Prohibition of Approaching Fornication: Referring to Surat al-Isra' (17:32), وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا ("And do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse"), he points out that the divine prohibition targets approaching the act itself, which necessitates barring all preliminary means and circumstances—such as unsupervised academic intermingling—that lead toward it .
Evidences from the Sunnah
From the Prophetic traditions, the author highlights:
- The agreed-upon hadith narrated by 'Uqba ibn 'Amir in which the Prophet ﷺ stated: إياكم والدخول على النساء ("Beware of entering upon women"), and when asked about the in-law (al-hamw), replied: الحمو الموت ("The in-law is death") . Citing commentaries by al-Nawawi and Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-Shinqiti equates the relationship between male and female classmates to that of an in-law, arguing that familiarity and common study ease private, unscrutinized seclusion .
- The hadiths in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim recorded from Ibn 'Abbas and Abu Hurayra describing the metaphorical fornication committed by bodily faculties, such as the eyes by looking, the ears by listening, and the tongue by speech .
Legal and Societal Precepts
Al-Shinqiti invokes the juristic principle of blocking the means to evil (sadd al-dhara'i'), stating that closing pathways leading to fornication is an obligation by scholarly consensus, supported by verses such as Surat al-An'am (6:108) .
In the final sections, he highlights two critical distinctions:
- Uncovering Nakedness as Satanic Deception: He explains through Surat al-A'raf (7:20–27) that stripping clothing and exposing nakedness was Satan's original plot against Adam and Eve, which was later manifest in pre-Islamic pagan practices such as circumambulating the Ka'ba unclothed until abolished by the Prophet ﷺ .
- Distinguishing Aspects of Western Civilization: Al-Shinqiti cautions Muslims to adopt only the beneficial, material, organizational, and technological advances of Western civilization that strengthen the community in accordance with Surat al-Anfal (8:60), while rejecting moral decline, modern revealing fashions, and the dismantling of traditional chastity .
He reinforces his theological conclusions by appealing to traditional Arab cultural values of modesty, quoting classical Arabic poetry by Muslim ibn al-Walid, Tarfa ibn al-'Abd, Jarir, and Sakhr the brother of al-Khansa', before concluding with the Prophetic hadith: لا أحد أغير من الله ("No one has greater protective jealousy than God") .
Answer updated