Muslim working woman must avoid forbidden seclusion Fatwa No: 118637
- Fatwa Date:3-3-2009
Assalamo alikom, i live in the UK,married to a 60 year old british convert, she works as a secretary in a mosque, masha allah she is very active in dawa work which is part of her secritarial job, she has a small office with closed door and a window, the door can be opened at any time.
i trust my wife fully but
sometimes it makes me very angry when i open the door and find another man talking to her,it could be for dawa or mosque business reason, i told her that i'm not happy about her having any type of one to one comunication with a man behind a closed door,it does not matter for dawa or work,the door shuold be open at all times so peopole passing can see in. but she told me that she read a scholar's opinion that permits this as long as the door can be opened at any time.
As a husband do i have the right to forbid her from this type of work ? please send your islamic opion as soon as possible because this had caused seriouse problems in our marriage. jazkom allahu khairan.
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Your wife staying with a non-Mahram man behind closed doors is considered as forbidden seclusion; for more benefit in this regard, please refer to Fatwa 81895. Therefore, you have the right to prevent your wife from this forbidden seclusion and you should advise her in a soft and gentle manner, especially that she is a new Muslim –as you mentioned in the question –as she might take heed. It might be that her staying in a Da’wah organization may help her to stay firm and steadfast on this religion.
However, if she insists on staying in seclusion with non-Mahram men, then you should prevent her from carrying on this type of work. In which case, you should choose non-provocative words so that this would not lead to unpleasant consequences.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 88048.
Allaah Knows best.