Q. If a woman wishes to work but her husband feels that she should not, is it permissible for her to work despite his objections? Suppose that her work does not interfere with her home duties, but her husband simply desires her to stay at home.
A.M., Canada
A. Islam encourages that all matters relating to a family should be sorted out by consultation within the family, when each party tries to accommodate the wishes and needs of the other. Both husband and wife should realize that the other party should have the fulfillment they need. Otherwise, the one who is dissatisfied will soon suffer, and this may rebound on the whole family and create friction and problems.
With regard to women’s work, Islam does not put any impediments in the path of a woman who wants to work. However, the Islamic system does not require a woman to work outside her home in order to earn her living. Women should be looked after by their husbands, or by their male relatives if they are unmarried. A husband must provide for his wife according to his means. She and their children are his partners in what he earns. This is characteristic of the type of society Islam builds. However, women are free to work if they wish to do so, provided that their work complies with Islamic teachings. This is not a restriction, but a requirement of all people. It applies to both men and women equally.
In the early period of Islam, women worked in a variety of jobs. We learn from a Hadith that a certain woman supervised the cultivation and harvest of her piece of agricultural land. In fact the Prophet allowed her to attend her work in the farm even though she was in her waiting period after her husband’s death.
A husband is within his right if he asks his wife not to work, because of a legitimate reason, such as looking after their young children, but he must fulfill his duty of providing her with a decent standard of living. Nevertheless, he should not make his objection in an arbitrary way, without looking at her needs. Take the case of an educated woman who does not have young children to look after. Her husband spends all the day at work and comes in the evening tired, expecting to be looked after. He finds his wife, who had stayed all day at home by herself, bored and depressed. This is repeated every day. His wife will soon be totally uninterested in anything he says to her. When he tells her about his working day, she cannot sympathize with his problems. The case would be totally different if she utilizes her time in some gainful employment. If he prevents her from working, he may be causing her, and his family, real harm. The best thing in such situations is to discuss and look after each other’s needs and wishes. Accommodation is always possible when the two parties try to work it together.
Feet Toward the Kaabah
Q. We are told by our elders not to sit with our feet facing the direction of the Qiblah wherever we happen to be.
A. Hussain
A. It is when you are in the Haram with the Kaabah at the center that you should not stretch your legs toward it. When you are outside, you may face the way you like, and stretch your legs in any direction. Only if a person turns toward the Kaabah with a gesture intended as an insult to it that his action is forbidden. But if you are at home, and mean no disrespect to the Kaabah, you sit or lie down in the position that is most comfortable to you.
As for your other point, it is simply untrue. It is the product of sick imagination. I lived in a house in London where there were three bathrooms, with the toilet seat in each one of them placed in a different direction, and none in the direction of the Kaabah.
