Women Attending Swimming Classes

Question

I would like to know if its is permissible for women to swim/go for swimming classes where they are only women and purdah is strictly adhered to (a full swimsuit is worn and hair covered too).

Answer

Islām takes complete care of the Muslim woman and preserves her modesty, conceals her and keeps her away from places of fitnah (temptation).

Islām enjoins women to stay at home and not go out unnecessarily, so as to preserve their chastity, maintain their dignity and protect them from all evil.

Muslim women going out to public centers and swimming pools is something that is emphatically forbidden, because it involves a number of evils and negative consequences.

Consider the following
Aḥādīth:

Abul Malīḥ V narrates that some women from Syria entered upon Ḥaḍhrat ʿĀ’ishah J and she said: Perhaps you are the people whose women enter bathhouses? They said: Yes. She said: I heard the Messenger (H) of ALLĀH F say: “There is no woman who removes her clothes anywhere other than her house, but she has torn (the veil of mercy) that is between her and ALLĀH F.”  (Sunan Abū Dāwūd: 4010)

Haḍhrat Jābir I narrates that Rasūlullāh said: “Whoever believes in ALLĀH F and the Last Day should not let his wife enter bathhouses.”

 

Checked and Approved By:

Mufti Muhammed Saeed Motara Saheb D.B.

References

4010 – حدثنا محمد بن قدامة بن أعين، حدثنا جرير. وحدثنا محمد بن المثنى، حدثنا محمد بن جعفر، حدثنا شعبة -جميعا- عن منصور، عن سالم ابن أبي الجعد -قال ابن المثنى: عن أبي المليح- قال: دخل نسوة من أهل الشام على عائشة، فقالت: ممن أنتن؟ فقلن: من أهل الشام، قالت: لعلكن من الكورة التي تدخل نساؤها الحمامات؟ قلن: نعم، قالت: أما إني سمعت رسول الله – صلى الله عليه وسلم – يقول: “ما من امرأة تخلع ثيابها في غير بيتها إلا هتكت ما بينها وبين الله عز وجل” (سنن أبي داود – دار الرسالة العالمية)

   2801 – حدثنا القاسم بن دينار الكوفي، قال: حدثنا مصعب بن المقدام، عن الحسن بن صالح، عن ليث بن أبي سليم، عن طاووس، عن جابر، أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال: من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يدخل الحمام بغير إزار، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يدخل حليلته الحمام، ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يجلس على مائدة يدار عليها بالخمر. (سنن الترمذي -دار الغرب الإسلامي – بيروت)

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