Date : 04-03-2009

Question :

I work as a university security officer. In some situations, I am obligated to ask a female student wearing Niqab (face veil) to produce her student card and uncover her face for identity check. What is the ruling of Sharia on this?


The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.


At the beginning, We (Iftaa` Department) appreciate your concern for maintaining university security, which is a crucial matter and a confirmed religious obligation. However, this requires appointing females to check the identity of female students. If this wasn`t possible, then another female student should be asked to do that.


We advise you to fear Allah and avoid using your job to uncover and look at the faces of female students because, in principle, this is a woman`s job and entrusting it to a man defies Islamic etiquette. Rather, it is the duty of the Muslim community to encourage these believing women to continue wearing face veils and modest dress.


University and national security, although a confirmed religious duty, can be achieved by hiring female security officers to check the identity of female students. In case this wasn`t possible, another female student could be asked to do that. This agrees with the principles of Islamic legislation, which preserves the right of the Muslim woman to wear a face veil  and not to uncover her face before men.


Since it isn`t acceptable that a man checks the identity of a one`s daughter or sister then this applies to all other females. In this blessed country of ours, We thank Allah for having a wise leadership that observes the sensitive nature of such matters and grants the females their right in being checked by other females.


It is imperative upon us to cooperate in achieving social security in a manner that pleases Allah the Almighty, preserves our Islamic identity and observes the provisions of our Islamic Sharia. We pray that Allah preserves our religion, security and country. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.