A woman's voice is shameful

 I often hear some missionaries, if they hear a woman speaking about religion, objecting by saying to her : The Messenger of Islam said: A woman’s voice is ‘awrah… And so on, such nonsense is repeated…

The response to the doubt :

First : I did not find a single hadith in which the Prophet said that a woman’s voice is ‘awrah, and this indicates the extent of their sick imagination, their deception, and their bad opinion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) .

Second : The Mothers of the Believers taught people, including men, and we did not hear a single one of the Companions, or the Followers, or the scholars say that a woman’s voice is ‘awrah, as the objectors claim… History proves to us that there are women who fill the earth with knowledge, such as Aisha (may Allah be pleased with them both), who occupies the second place in narrating the most hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) . The scholars say about her : 1- Imam Al-Zuhri said : “If the knowledge of Aisha was collected with the knowledge of all the Mothers of the Believers, and the knowledge of all the women… ” Aisha's knowledge would have been better. 2- Ata' bin Abi Rabah said: "Aisha was the most knowledgeable of people, the most learned of people, and the best of people in opinion among the common people ." 3- Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari said: "Whenever a matter was unclear to us and we asked Aisha about it, we found knowledge of it with her ." 4- Masruq said: "I saw the elders of the great companions of the Messenger of Allah , peace and blessings be upon him, asking her about the inheritance laws. " 5- Urwah bin Al-Zubayr said: "I have not seen anyone more knowledgeable in jurisprudence, medicine, or poetry than Aisha." 6- Abu Al-Zinad said: “Nothing happened to her except that she recited poetry about it. The evidence is that she was a poet, with a very high memory, intelligent, and perceptive, quoting more than two thousand hadiths from the Messenger of Allah ( peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)... and so were some of his wives (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) , and Lady Nafisiyah who lived in Egypt; she used to issue fatwas and teach sciences until they said about her the preciousness of knowledge... Then the woman used to ask the Prophet ( peace and blessings of Allah be upon him ) and pledge allegiance to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ... and we did not hear anyone say what the objectors said... Third : The great Islam came to block the means (prevent the temptations) that lead to the destruction of the Islamic society, so Allah the Almighty commanded the woman not to be submissive in speech, meaning: not to sway with men; such as beautifying her voice... so that she would not be a cause of a great temptation, the closest of which is adultery... He said : ] O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women. If you fear Allah, then do not be submissive By speech, so that he in whose heart is disease might covet. And speak an appropriate word (32) [ Al-Ahzab] It is stated in the easy interpretation : O wives of the Prophet - Muhammad - you are not in virtue and status like other women, if you act in obedience to God and stay away from His disobedience, so do not speak to strangers in a soft voice that might tempt he in whose heart is immorality and disease into unlawful desire. This is an etiquette that is obligatory upon every woman who believes in God and the Last Day, and speak a word that is far from suspicion, that is not denied by the Shariah. End quote.















This understanding was understood by the scholars of the Ummah, past and present, and I do not know of anyone who opposes that... The following is evidence for this:
1- The author of the book Sharh Bulugh al-Maram, Book of Hajj (1/12) said: A woman’s voice is not ‘awrah, because this woman spoke to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) , and there are many hadeeths in which women spoke to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him ) and to the Companions, and this is a well-known matter in the Sunnah. A person can conclude with a few hundred hadeeths in which women are mentioned and that they speak in the presence of men. However, it was forbidden to speak in a submissive manner by saying: “O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women. If you fear Allaah, then do not speak in a submissive manner, lest he in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire.” The basic principle is that it is permissible for men to speak to women if necessary. Ahmad (34/395) narrated from the hadeeth of Umm ‘Atiyyah: “He took from them in the pledge of allegiance that they should not speak to any man except those who were mahrams.” However, this hadeeth is not authentic because its chain of transmission includes Ghassan ibn al-Rabi’, and the hadeeth also came from a mursal of al-Hasan, and it is not authentic. End quote .

2- Sheikh Khaled Abdullah Musleh said on the Islam Way website:

Scholars differed as to whether a woman’s voice is ‘awrah or not. There are two opinions. What is indicated by the apparent meaning of the Qur’an and Sunnah is that a woman’s voice is not ‘awrah, and this is the view of the majority of scholars. It is the most correct view according to the Hanafis, the accepted view according to the Malikis, and the school of thought according to the Shafi’is and Hanbalis .

All of this is if there is no doubt or desire in her speech. As for listening to her voice out of enjoyment, there is no doubt that it is forbidden, because the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “The ears commit adultery by listening.” Narrated by Muslim (2657) on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him. End quote .

Fourth : What is surprising and amazing is that the point of suspicion is in their holy book, where it is attributed to Paul the Apostle that he forbade women from ever speaking in churches... The question is : Why did he order them to do that? Is it because their voices are shameful?!

This is stated in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 34 Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted to them to speak, but to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 But if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Or did the word of God go out from you? Or is it over with you alone? No comment!

Then, what is more amazing than the above is what the book attributed to the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verse 11 : “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12But I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.”

I said : Islam did not differentiate between men and women in learning and speaking, as we have seen before...but according to the words of Paul the Apostle, we find that women should not learn or speak... no comment!