A female student asking about the permissibility of treating men during her studies

02/10/2011| IslamWeb

Question

ASSALAMOU ALEIKUM, I would like to thank you for the attention you will give to my question : Iam a woman, iam student in medicine and i would like to know in chaa allah if the necessity to have doctors in our oumma, allows me to treat on men during my studies in France (without any emergency, but for my studies only), Indeed i cannot study medicine without the possibility to treat on men.

 

Answer

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

In principle, it is not permissible for a woman to study medicine if this study requires examining men and looking at what is forbidden for her to see and other prohibitions. However, since medicine is among the communal obligations which are much needed, then in our view it is permissible for you to continue studying, if the society where you live is in dire need for women like you (i.e. female doctors) to meet this need. Nonetheless, you should fear Allah as much as you can while studying and training.

 

Allah Knows best.

 

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb