Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
It is better
and safer for these women to look for a woman who can teach them Qur’aan
memorization, whether in the home or in the mosque, because that is further
removed from fitnah (temptation) and its causes. If that is not possible,
but these woman can memorize Qur’aan using tapes or a computer and then
check on one another, that is good, and it is better than sitting with a man
in order to memorize.
If there is
a need for this man to teach them, either because there is no female teacher
or because he is good, and can teach them the rules of tajweed (correct
recitation), then there is nothing wrong with that so long as attention is
paid to the following guidelines:
1-
He should teach them from
behind a screen.
2-
None of them should speak in a
soft voice.
3-
They should speak with the
teacher only as much as is necessary.
4-
The teacher should give up this
job if he feels that his heart is inclined towards one of them or he enjoys
the sound of the voice of one of them.
5-
The teacher should be elderly,
married and known for righteousness and piety.
It should be
noted that the voice of a woman is not ‘awrah according to the more correct
of the two scholarly opinions, so long as there is no softness of speech.
It says in
Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (5/15), which is a Hanafi book: Her voice (i.e.,
the voice of a non-mahram woman) is not ‘awrah. It says in al-Furoo’
and elsewhere: according to the more correct opinion, but it is haraam to
enjoy listening to it even if she is reciting Qur’aan, for fear of fitnah.
End quote.
It says in
Mughni al-Muhtaaj (4/210), which is a Shaafa’i book: The woman’s
voice is not ‘awrah, and it is permissible to listen to it so long as there
is no fear of fitnah. End quote.
It says in
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (12/156):
Firstly:
mixing between men and women in schools and elsewhere is a great evil which
causes a great deal of damage to religious and worldly interests. So it is
not permissible for a woman to study or work in a place where men and women
mix, and it is not permissible for her guardian to allow her to do that.
Secondly:
It is not
permissible for a man to teach a woman who is not wearing hijab, and it is
not permissible for him to teach her when he is alone with her even if she
is wearing proper shar’i hijab. In the presence of a non-mahram man, the
entire woman is ‘awrah, and covering the head but showing the face is not
full hijab.
Thirdly:
There is
nothing wrong with a man teaching a woman from behind a screen in a school
that is just for women, with no mixing between male and female students, or
between the male teacher and the female teachers.
If you need
to ask him questions, then it can be done via closed circuit TV, which is
well known and widely available, or over the phone, but the students must
beware of speaking softly or making their speech attractive. End quote.
And Allaah
knows best.