Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions:

In compliance with the saying of God Almighty: {Read, ˹O Prophet˺, in the Name of your Lord Who created (1) created humans from a clinging clot (2) Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous (3) Who taught by the pen (4) taught humanity what they knew not.} Al-‘Alaq: 1-5, and in the saying of the prophet, prayers and peace be upon him, in the hadith narrated by Al-Tirmidhi from Anas Ibn Malik, may God be pleased with him,: (Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, and the seeker of knowledge gets prayers of forgiveness from everything, even the whales in the sea); Pursuant to the duty of encouraging good and forbidding evil, as God Almighty said: {You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you encourage good, forbid evil} Al-Imran: 110; and fulfilling the duty of stating the truth that God took on the people of knowledge in His saying, blessed be His name: {when Allah took the covenant of those who were given the Scripture to make it known to people and not hide it} Al-Imran: 187; And proceeding from the duty of giving advice to the rulers of Muslims and the general public, as stated in the hadith that Imam Muslim narrated in his Sahih from the great companion Tamim al-Dari, may God be pleased with him, he said: The Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: (Religion is advice), we said: To whom, O Messenger of God? He said: (To God, to His Book, to His Messenger, to the rulers of the Muslims, and to the general public).

For all of this, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) would like to clarify the Shariah ruling on suspending the study of girls and women in schools in Afghanistan, as follows:

First: The education of males and females is considered a legal duty in Sharia, and this is indicated by blessed verses from the Holy Qur’an and authentic hadiths from the honorable Sunnah of the Prophet, and no significant disagreement was mentioned about it among scholars. And the first verse that was revealed to the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is considered the strongest and greatest proof of this obligation, and it is His saying, the Most High: {Read, ˹O Prophet˺, in the Name of your Lord Who created} Al-‘Alaq: 1, and His saying: {Read} is a command for the Holy Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, to read, and the command, as it is well known, necessitates obligation according to the scholars of Fiqh and Osul. And if the greatest Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is commanded to study by obligation, then his Ummah is commanded to study accordingly in his footstep. There is no difference in this command between a man and a woman, and between a boy and a girl, as they are all commanded according to this great verse to read, and by reading according to scholars the verse means learning and studying. Also, his saying, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, in the hadith (seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim…) is also an explicit and clear Shariah evidence indicating the necessity of educating boys, girls, and women at all times and everywhere.

Second: Preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind are among the most important purposes of the sublime Shariah, and among the necessary interests that the divine religions repeatedly call for the necessity of preserving them by all legitimate means and capabilities. Education, according to all the scholars of the Ummah, is the most important means of preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind; Because it is the one which enables man to know his Lord and his religion, as well as to know his rights and duties, and also enables him to build the universe, and to carry out the task of succession on earth with sincerity and security, and it protects him from the dire effects of ignorance, and falling into superstitions and delusions, and therefore it is considered one of the greatest acts of worship, and most important duty for males and females. And if the agreed-upon Shariah ruling states that “whatever an obligation is not fulfilled without it, then it is obligatory,” and that “the premise of duty is obligatory,” then education is considered a legal duty in Shariah because it is considered something that the duty of preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind, cannot be achieved except with it; And because it is also considered as a premise the duty of preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind.

Based on this, the education of males and females is a Shariah duty because it depends on preserving the objectives of the Shariah in general, and the objectives of preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind in particular, just as preventing boys and girls from education is considered a violation of the objectives of Shariah in general and the objectives of preserving the soul, preserving religion, and preserving the mind in particular. It is also considered a severe harm to the necessary interests that disrupt life through its imbalance, and both of these things are considered forbidden by Shariah.

Third: Preventing girls and women from education is a violation of the tradition of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and the tradition of the righteous predecessors among the Companions, may God be pleased with them, and the followers and their followers, may God have mercy on them. The Muslim Ummah did not know this violation throughout its long history, especially since it is reported that women attended the meetings of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, in which he used to teach the Companions, may God be pleased with them. In fact, the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, allocated days for women to teach them. The Prophet’s wives were among the great scholars of the Companions, may God be pleased with them, and they were the ones who taught many of the Companions and their followers, may God be pleased with them, which makes preventing girls and women from education something reprehensible.

Fourth: The Muslim Ummah should be alerted and warned against being deceived by those hadiths that are well-known to the common people, especially those fabricated hadiths on which some educated people rely to justify preventing girls and women from education. Among the most famous of these false and fabricated hadiths is what was fabricated by the famous fabricator Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Shami, where he falsely attributed to the Prophet’s wife Aisha, may God be pleased with her, that she said: (Do not lodge women in the rooms, and do not teach them to write, instead teach them Surat al-Nur and the spindle).

Taking such untrue and false words as evidence and argument for preventing or suspending the education of girls and women is equal to intentionally abandoning what was decided by the verses of the Quran and stipulated by the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah.

Finally: The good and specific methods reached by contemporary educational systems to ensure the education of young people represented in the division of these educational stages into primary, intermediate, secondary and university stages. Commitment to this division is considered one of the legitimate interests that are adopted, in order to enable boys and girls to comply with the Shariah duty represented by in the necessity of learning and education, and therefore, preventing girls and women from education at any of the educational stages mentioned is clear arbitrariness and a great transgression.

Based on all of the above, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy appeals to the ruling authority in Afghanistan to take the initiative to reopen the doors of schools and universities for Afghan girls and women, in compliance with the command of God Almighty, and in accordance with the Sunnah of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and a commitment to what the Ummah is obligated to do at all times and places. The Academy also appeals to them to ensure that boys and girls are enabled to enroll in all stages of education and all specializations that the honorable Afghan people need at this critical stage in their history, to enable them to fight extreme poverty and ignorance, for poverty has no weapon better than education, and ignorance has no medicine than more effective education.

The scholars of the Ummah allover the world remind them that enabling the boys, girls and women of Afghanistan to study and learn is a trust upon their shoulders, which they will be asked about before God on the Day of Resurrection, because He, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said in the hadith that Al-Bukhari and Muslim included in their Sahihs: (Each of you is accountable and responsible for his subjects, the imam is accountable and he is responsible for his subjects, the man in his family is accountable and he is responsible for his subjects, and the woman in her husband’s house is accountable and she is responsible for her sujbects).

In conclusion, the Academy appeals to all member states of the OIC and charitable institutions in the world to provide material and moral support to the Afghan people in order to enable them to develop the infrastructure, logistical equipment, laboratories, necessary facilities, and transportation needed by schools, institutes, and universities.

And may God’s blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad, his family and companions, and those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgment.

Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano

Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy

Issued on Thursday 28 Jumada Al-Awwal 1444H

Corresponding to 22 December 2022G

in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.