Women’s Participation in Gatherings: Speeches and Recitation

Question

May Muslim women hold religious gatherings or not? Are they obliged to give sermons and speeches or not? For a woman’s voice, too, is said to be part of her ‘awra (that which must be concealed) — so how, then, is a woman to preach and give a speech? And if such a sermon or speech is heard by non-mahram men, is that permissible?

Answer

The Sacred Law has very emphatically enjoined hijab upon women. In one hadith it is stated that woman is something to be concealed: when she leaves the house, Shaytan looks upon her expectantly. In one hadith: “I have not left behind me a trial more harmful to men than women.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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