Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh I would like to ask whether it is allowed for women to gather together and share some knowledge of Isliam. In my country (mozet vpisat nazvanije strani) there are brothers (students of knowledge) who received knowledge in Egypt or Saudi Arabia Universities; now they give lectures and place their lessons on the Internet. One of these brothers, on the question whether women can gather once a week to share some knowledge of Islam, answered that it is prohibited and just an excuse for women to leave their homes, and that knowledge should be obtained from men and only if there is no more men we can inquire knowledge from women. As a prove for his answer he says that when prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was alive women were only taking knowledge from him, and only after his death from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) . Please could you give the answer with the prove from Quran or Sunnah, whether it is allowed or not to obtain knowledge of Islam from women (especially graduated from the faculty of Sharia) and to gather together. May Allah bless you.

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.

It is permissible for a woman to get knowledge from another woman and it is permissible for women to gather together to study religious matters. In fact, seeking knowledge is an obligation on both men and women.

If a woman is taught by another woman, this is better for her than her being taught by men especially if they are non-Mahrams. Therefore, what that brother said is not Islamically correct nor acceptable.

Moreover, the evidence he gave is not appropriate as the Prophet ordered Ash-Shifaa’ Bint [the daughter of] ‘Abdullaah to teach Hafsah, the mother of the believers how to perform Ruqyah in the same manner as she taught her how to write. The story is reported by Abu Daawood and others and Al-Albaani classified it as Saheeh [authentic]

Even if we presume that what that brother said is correct, it is not evidence for what he concluded, as the Prophet had characteristics that made people (male and female Companions) keen to get knowledge directly from him, whereas these characteristics cannot be found neither in other men nor in other women.

To conclude, women being keen on getting knowledge directly from the Prophet is not evidence that it was not permissible for them to get knowledge from other than him.

Allaah Knows best.