The issue is still highly debated in the Muslim world: whether Islam obliges women to remain in their home or not. The Quranic verse in Surah al-Ahzab, which states, “Settle in your homes…” (33:33), is widely used by people as a way to prove that women are religiously required not to lead lives in public. However, a further examination of the Quran, Hadith, and the early history of Islam reveals that this command was being applied to the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, not to all Muslim women.
This distinction is explicitly stated in context, even in the Quran. The verse “Settle in your homes…” is an immediate continuation of what Allah says: “O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women” (33:32). Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in Mafatiih al-Ghayb, al-Zamakhshari in Al-Kashshaf, and al-Shawkani in Fatth al-Qadir all affirmed that only the wives of the Prophet are addressed in this manner. Their remarkable social and religious standing demanded greater decorum. Being the mothers of the Believers, their behaviour was to be exemplary, and their privacy was to be respected in honour of the Prophet ﷺ himself. The scholars contended that generalising this teaching to all women disregards the grammatical form of the verse as well as its context and intent.
The Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ offers even greater support in the fact that women were not ordered to lead a secluded life. The Prophet ﷺ rebuked those companions who disliked seeing women in the mosque by telling them: “Don’t prevent your women from going to the mosque when they seek your permission…” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 442b; Sunan Abī Dawuw, 567). In another famous narration, when Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) turned around and saw Sawdah bint Zamʿah outside her house, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah has granted you (women) the permission to go out (for needs).” Moreover, as Umm ʿAṭiyyah (ra) told, the Prophet ﷺ called all women to experience the gathering of Eid so they could perform the prayers and the gladness of the Muslim community (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 971; Saḥīḥ Muslim, 890). These narrations demonstrate clearly that the Prophet ﷺ did not envision having a secret community of women but an open one, a modest but active one.
History knows that numerous female acquaintances were engaged in productive activities in the world. Nusaybah bint Kaʿb, the so-called Umm ʿAmmarah, was a woman who also fought along with the Prophet ﷺ in the Battle of Uhud and swung her sword and shield in his defence. Her valour and harsh wounds (in the service of Islam) were chronicled by Imam al-Dhahabi in the book Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (vol. 8). Another saintly companion is called Rufaydah al-Aslamiyyah, the first woman in the records of Islam as a nurse; she opened a field tent to treat the wounded in battle, as mentioned in Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Saad (vol. 8). Asmā, the daughter of the first caliph, Abu Bakr, used to carry loads of dates on her field, and one day as the Prophet ﷺ was passing by her, he gave her the camel to ease her load (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5224). The records are not maintained in the contemporary records but in the oldest records of the Islamic faith, and this confirms that women of the Prophet’s time were free to worship, work, and serve their community.
This pragmatic, moderate comprehension is also sponsored by the overall philosophy in the Quran. Islam is a faith that does not prescribe misery but eliminates it. The Quran states in Surah Al-Baqarah, “…Allah intends ease for you, not hardship…” (2:185), and in Surah Al-Hajj, “Strive for ˹the cause of˺ Allah in the way He deserves, for ˹it is˺ He ˹Who˺ has chosen you, and laid upon you no hardship in the religion…” (22:78). Imposing permanent seclusion on half of the Muslim people would conflict with this godly concept of taysir (facilitation). The Prophet ﷺ himself was an indication of a society in which men and women played roles in serving the populace, educating, and spiritual life within ethical standards.
This issue was re-evaluated by modern scholars, who also ultimately arrived at the same conclusion. Rashid Rida in Tafsir al Manar, Hasan al-Banna in Al-Marafah al-Muslimah, and Abu al-Aal al-Maududi in Purdah and the Status of Women in Islam, as well as Yusuf al-Qaradawi in Fiqh al-Marafah al-Muslimah, all confirm that the verse ‘Stay in your homes’ was a local instructional sentence for the wives of the Prophet. Sheikh al-Qaradawi stated in a brief yet precise phrase that the role of a woman is not to be enclosed within his four walls but to be chaste in all places. Islam thus gives women the right to know, the right to work, and to serve the society, but only after observing modesty, including lowering their heads and refusing to expose themselves publicly as stated in Surah al-Nur (24:30-31).
Revelation evidence, prophetic practice, and early Muslim history together render no mist as to their validity. The order to stay in your homes was not meant to be a universal rule of isolation. It was an exclusive teaching to an exclusive society of women whose visibility had special implications. To extrapolate it to all women at all ages is to ignore the accuracy of the Quran, the mercy of the Prophet, and even set the example of the women themselves who lived under his care. Islam is not the message of seclusion but a message of dignity. The Muslim faith invites women to be modest and not invisible, to believe in action rather than in secret.
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Anas Sultan is a student of MS in Islamic Finance at Minhaj University, Lahore. He also works as a research assistant at SIEBF MUL (School of Islamic Economics and Banking and Finance, Minhaj University Lahore). His passion lies in exploring the realms of Islamic finance and contemporary social issues through research and writing.