Q:
1. What is the method of women pledging bay'at at the hands of a Shaikh? Should it be done in the way males place their hands in the hands of the Shaikh, or should it be verbal? Can it be over the phone or via email?
2. What is the Shar'ee method of a female mureed communicating with her Shaikh? Should she phone and give her halaat or email the Shaikh directly without the medium of her husband or father, mahram, etc.?
3. Many a times, a woman needs to communicate with the Shaikh and seek guidance in regard to marital issues which she does not want her husband to know about as it may relate to some of his weaknesses. In this case, can she email the Shaikh, informing him of her marital condition and problems without the medium of her husband?
4. Many female mureeds become casual with the Shaikh, thereby leading to lustful feelings and wrong thoughts being created in the hearts. Should there be a degree of purdah observed between the female mureeds and the Shaikh?
5. Often, female mureeds travel by car on their own to attend the majaalis of their Shaikh. Is this correct?
6. Apart from the above, can Hazrat give some naseehat in regard to the above maslah of females bay'at.
A:
1. It should be verbal. It is haraam that women place their hands in the hands of a na-mahram man, be it a Shaikh or whoever.
Yes.
2. On account of the abundance of fitnah it is not appropriate that she talks to her Shaikh directly. Se should talk through her mahram or husband.
3. If she is being oppressed or being misguided by the husband and she does not have any mahram to assist then she can call out for help and guidance.
4. Refer to 2.
5. It is not correct.
6. The best advice for a woman is the advice given by Faatimah (radhiyallahu anha): “They (women) do not see men and men do not see them.” Further they should make up the environment of the home by commencing with following daily program at home for at least 15 minutes in the mornings and evenings:
(1) Ta`leem of Fazaa'il-e-A`maal, Fazaa'il-e-Sadaqaat and Bahishti Zewar.
(2) Recitation of a portion of the Qur'aan Shareef and some zikr.
(3) Du`aa at the end of each session.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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