H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy, participated in the first scientific session of the international conference on “Education of Girls in Muslim Societies: Challenges and Opportunities” held by the Muslim World League in cooperation with the Prime Minister’s Office of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Saturday, 11 Rajab 1466, corresponding to 11 January 2025, in the capital city of Islamabad.

His Excellency began his speech by discussing Islam’s position on women’s education: “We must consider the issue of women’s education. I do not know any scholar, ancient or modern, who says that it is forbidden, and the obligation of education is agreed upon, as evidenced by the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in clear and explicit language that the pursuit of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, and the violation of this command is a violation of the clear and explicit divine command”. His Excellency added: “The problem in the issue of education for girls and women today lies in several pretexts and some customs and traditions that do not want to comply with the clear and explicit divine command, while stressing that education addresses the pretexts, combats and eliminates these stagnant traditions and customs that Islam fought against from day one, which means that the education we mean is the remedy that enables women and every person to acquire the principles, This means that the fulfillment of these three things depends on education, both religious and worldly.

Furthermore, the Secretary General emphasized that education is a right and a holy divine command and said, “The opinion on the ruling on education is non-negotiable and unanimously agreed upon and does not accept anyone to argue about it because it is a holy divine command that is a right of the family, a right of the community, a right of the state, and a right of the family, which is a duty of the family, and if the family does not fulfill it, the community must fulfill it, and if the community does not fulfill it, the state must fulfill it, and the state should not allow anyone to interfere with this duty”. He added that “lack of education is a great harm that must be prevented by ordering their education”.

The Secretary General also pointed out that the International Islamic Fiqh Academy has issued clear resolutions calling for the rejection of any fatwa that calls for preventing women under any pretext, whatever that pretext may be, because it is abnormal and unofficial fatwas must be rejected, renounced, fought and opposed. They violate the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah, which has been unanimous on this issue since time immemorial.

At the end of his speech, the Secretary General explained that education is not limited to a specific science, but every useful science is a legitimate science, stressing that there is no difference between education, prayer, fasting, and Zakat, and that “a woman’s education is parallel and equal to her prayer, fasting, and Zakat, just as she is commanded to pray, she is commanded to fast, and she is commanded to perform Hajj, she is also commanded to learn. The education we refer to is all sciences at all levels, no one is allowed to associate this education with a specific field of knowledge, but it includes all beneficial sciences, including the sciences of medicine, engineering, agriculture, and other sciences, because when the Quran says, “It is His servant scholars who fear Him”. Hence, this excludes being a man or a woman, but also includes all specialties, whether it is medicine, jurisprudence, theology, or hadith, and it affirms that no specialty is excluded as long as it leads them to have fear of Allah.