‘Ikhtilat' supported by Ahadeeth, says Sheikh Al-Ghamdi MAKKAH – The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah has added his voice of support to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) and addressed the issue of “ikhtilat” – the mixing of the sexes – that has prompted numerous scholars and commentators to speak out in recent months. “The term ‘ikhtilat' in this usage is a recent adoption that was unknown to the early people of knowledge,” Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi said in a lengthy interview with Okaz. “Mixing was part of normal life for the Ummah and its societies.” “The word in its contemporary meaning has entered customary jurisprudential terminology from outside,” Al-Ghamdi said. “Those who prohibit the mixing of the genders actually live it in their real lives, which is an objectionable contradiction, as every fair-minded Muslim should follow Shariah judgments without excess or negligence,” Al-Ghamdi said. “In many Muslim houses – even those of Muslims who say mixing is haram – you can find female servants working around unrelated males,” he said. Weak Ahadeeth Sheikh Al-Ghamdi proceeded by citing numerous Ahadeeth – sayings of the Prophet – to support his position. “Those who prohibit ikhtilat cling to weak Ahadeeth, while the correct Ahadeeth prove that mixing is permissible, contrary to what they claim,” Al-Ghamdi said. On Kaust, Sheikh Al-Ghamdi described the university as an “extraordinary move and huge accomplishment to be added to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's record and the history of the Islamic Ummah”. “It is a great step which the Ummah can look up to in recapturing its role in civilization and its scientific honor,” Al-Ghamdi said. “It wouldn't be too much to say that the scientific theories influencing nations have forgotten the creative role of the Islamic world for hundreds of years, leaving the Islamic world dependent on others, introverted, eaten away by difference and sectarian and ethnic disputes and self-interest, making in some parts the religion of Allah a pasture for discord, contention, and enmity in the course of turning in on itself and taking up fanaticism for unsubstantiated views to the point where differences have become part of a sorry program,” Al-Ghamdi said. Sheikh Al-Ghamdi said the “blessed university” would help realize the “great hopes and ambitions of Muslims”. “The university represents a natural extension of our Islamic civilization which led for a long time all the theoretical and corporeal sciences,” he added. Scholars in agreement Sheikh Al-Ghamdi's views are in agreement with those of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars and Ali Al-Jum'ah, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, who in October described Kaust as an “edifice of science”. “Islam does not forbid the mixing of the sexes as long as it is conducted according to Shariah,” Al-Qaradhawi told Al-Madina newspaper. “There must be shared contributions and cooperation in what's good.” Al-Qaradhawi said that the term ikhtilat was “unknown to the Islamic lexicon in previous centuries”, suggesting that it had perhaps arrived through “translation of a foreign word”. According to Grand Mufti Al-Jum'ah, there is “no harm in coeducation between male and female students within Shariah rules and within a learning environment. This is permissible according to Shariah”. Speaking to Okaz, Al-Jum'ah said: “The university will unquestionably take into consideration the morals and rules of Shariah Law because the Kingdom is earnest in this area,” before citing early Islamic practices, four instances from the Prophet's time and explanations of religious scholars such as Al-Imam Al-Bukhari and Al-Qurtubi. “Explaining a Hadith from Al-Bukhari, Ibn Al-Battal said: ‘Separation of women from men in terms of place or in direct dealings is not obligatory for the women of the believers, but only applies to the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him),” Al-Jum'ah said. “It is also permissible for a man to speak to an unrelated woman to ask her of issues if they are of public benefit,” he said. “As to men receiving Shariah knowledge from women and from a knowledgeable woman, an example is found in the wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who used to spread religious knowledge and propagate the religion. Men and women mixing to seek knowledge while abiding by Islamic Shariah morals is permissible according to Shariah,” he said. Ummah of science Grand Mufti Al-Jum'ah said that King Abdullah's determination to promote scientific development would “present a good impression of the Muslim Ummah which is concerned to see scientific development” while also “protecting the fixed principles of religion”. Prior to that, local scholars Sheikh Fahd Bin Sa'ad Al-Majed, Secretary General of the Board of Senior Ulema, and Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman Al-Mane'e, member of the Board of Senior Ulema, described Kaust as a “beacon of science and welfare for the entire world”. Speaking to Okaz, Al-Majed said that Kaust would “serve to end the stereotypical propaganda and misconceptions concerning Islam by presenting the true image of Islam as a religion of knowledge and civilization,” while Al-Mane'e said it would be a step towards “the Islamic World recovering its leading role in science”. “King Abdullah,” Al-Mane'e said, was a “pioneer and great leader not only in the Islamic World but in the entire world.”
