Is It Permissible To Have A Sisters’ Gathering For A Fundraising And Da’wah Event

By Shaykh Hasan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhaab Marzooq al-Banna (hafidhahullah)

taken from a LIVE Question on Answer Session with Shaykh Hasan Ibn ‘Abdul Wahhaab Marzooq al-Banna (hafidhahullah) on Sunday 3rd November, 2013

Questioner: The sisters from Trinidad are asking if they could hold a fund raising event for building a masjid and the event will be knowledge-based. The idea they propose is to hold a one-day seminar of knowledge in the outdoors. They will set up some tents and the necessary measures in order to prevent anyone from seeing the sisters and they will be in seclusion, segregated from the men. They will host a number of speakers who will advise them regarding the religion of Allah, two or three lectures in that day and there will be no mingling with these speakers; the lectures will transmitted through loud speakers. Also, interspersed throughout the event and the activities of the day will be some food to be served and some merchandise to be displayed for buying and selling and the like. What is the Shaykh’s opinion regarding holding and hosting such an event?

Shaykh Hasan (hafidhahullah): What a beautiful thing it is that you are doing! As long as you are along this path of maintaining and upholding the segregation and separation from the men, observing your hijab and gathering together for the acts of goodness, this is tremendous khayr. So long as you are inviting these Shuyookh to speak to you and advise you regarding the Deen of Allah, calling to the Tawheed and the correct Methodology, calling to the manners of Islaam, then this is a tremendous affair. This is a great deal of good.

However, my advice to you my sisters or my daughters is not to remain out so long; from 9am to immediately prior to Maghrib is sufficient. Do not wait until the nightfall. Surely if the night comes upon you, there may be some difficulty upon the attending sisters in returning home or other obstacles or other unforeseen difficulties. So my advice to you is to disperse before the nightfall. There is no harm in holding such an event occasionally. This should not be done on a regular basis but to do this occasionally, there is no harm in this. And even if some of the men attend, and they attend in a separate area for the men in which there is no mingling with the women, to listen to these lectures, to listen to this knowledge that is being spread, there is no harm in that either provided that this is done occasionally and not on a regular basis.

And my advice to you is to fear Allah (‘Azza wa Jall) and to focus on the affairs of Tawheed, the Creed and the Manhaj and the affair of the manners of Islaam. And may Allah give success to your endeavours and may Allah (Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala) allow you to gather the necessary monies for the masjid.

And do not forget that you are messengers of Islaam in your country. All of you are emissaries and representatives of the religion of Allah in this country, the land that is mostly inhabited by the disbelievers so it is a must that you represent Islaam with the manners of Islaam and that your children represent Islaam with the manners of Islaam. You raise your children upon Tawheed and the Manhaj and the manners of the Muslims. And so, you show this to the disbelievers such that it will be a da’wah for them and a call for them to come to the religion of Allah. There is no harm in your children mingling a little bit with the children of the disbelievers; the boys with the boys and the girls with the girls, provided that it is within a very limited basis to achieve a certain need or perhaps to show the neighbours that you are observant of their neighbourly rights. The likes of this, as long as there is no excessive mingling, one that leads to harm, one that leads to the intermingling of the sexes or that we are following along with them in where they are going or celebrating the same occasions that they celebrate and the same days that they revere, we revere. So long as none of these harms are being observed, there is no harm in a very small degree of mingling with the children of the disbelievers within these bounds and limits.

Questioner: Is it permitted to rent vending spaces in this event at a small cost in order to raise funds?

Shaykh Hasan (hafidhahullah): There is no harm in this and if these vendors are making some money from selling these items, there is no harm as long as they are in need.

Questioner: Is it permissible to sell lingerie in these events?

Shaykh Hasan (hafidhahullah): There is no harm; this is halaal. If there is no mingling between the genders and this is something that will only be seen by the women and then seen by their husbands, this is permitted. There is nothing wrong with this.

The Shaykh said that all of these are good ideas and surely, Islaam has come with success and the preservation of the economies and wealth for the Muslimeen and the increase of the good in their hands. All of this is from the religion. And Allah Knows Best.

Download/Listen Audio Here [Arabic/English]