Can a Girl Get a Higher Education?
Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Question
I have come across some websites that discourage higher education for Muslim women. They state that women belong in the home, and even driving a car should be discouraged. Is the context of where and how you pursue higher education important?
Or is it that higher education should not be pursued by women at all? In the West, it’s hard to find segregated universities, and online learning may not be as beneficial. As a Muslim woman, I’m struggling with what’s permissible and impermissible, causing me a great deal of stress.
Answer
It is permissible for a woman to go to university and get a higher education.
Please see this answer for a full answer:
Mixed Schools and Looking at the Opposite Sex
Also, see this article about free mixing in school:
How to Deal with Free Mixing in Public Schools
To summarize, I will tell you that a woman is the manager of her household and is responsible for the overall feeding, cleanliness, and care of the family and home. She should train her whole family to help her. However, she should also be an educated person so that she can have personal growth, help her children, understand the outside world; and there are many other aims other than financial.
She may work within her field when she is able with her husband’s permission. She might do this part-time while the children are small or full-time when they have grown up. If she prefers to stay at home, she should keep seeking knowledge no matter what and make her time valuable, perhaps with charity or spreading goodness another way.
In other words, she must set a higher standard for herself because her time in this world is short, and she will not be fulfilled by household chores, especially after the kids have grown. Muslim women must look beyond themselves and ask how they can contribute to Muslim society and be part of the solution, not the problem.
It is acceptable for her to drive, go to any school and use her education for her benefit afterward. Please avoid those kinds of websites; you can find reliable knowledge here. May Allah give you the best in this world and the next.
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Verily! The world is accursed and what it contains is accursed, except the remembrance of Allah and those who associate themselves with Allah; and a learned man, and a learning person.” [Tirmidhi]
Check this link also:
After Marriage, Can a Woman Continue Her Education and Pursue a Career?
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.
