12/06/1438 H.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. The [good] outcome is for the righteous, and there is no aggression except against the oppressors. May Allah’s peace, blessings, and grace be upon His servant and His trustworthy Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions, and those who follow them in excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
A few days ago, at the end of Jumadi Al-Ula, a grave event occurred, from which far-reaching evil will result. This is the appointment by the Minister of Education, upon the nomination of the President of The Taif University, of a woman as Dean of the College of Medicine, to be a point of reference for men, both instructors and students.
The Okaz newspaper published on Monday, 30 Jumadi Al-Ula 1438 H, corresponding to 27 February 2017 CE, information about this reprehensible event. It stated, under the headline: “By Ministerial Decree… Appointment of the First Saudi Female ‘Dean’ at The Taif University”:
Taif University yesterday recorded the appointment of the first female dean in Saudi universities for both male and female student sections, in a new and important step in the academic sector, following the issuance of a decision by the Minister of Education, Dr. Ahmad Al-Issa, appointing Professor Dalal Muhiyyiddin Namangani as Dean of the College of Medicine at the University.
Dr. Namangani, after the ministerial decree was issued, officially became the first female dean of a college that includes faculty members and students of both genders in the Kingdom’s public universities. Previously, appointments to the position of dean were restricted to men, while the administrative ladder for female academics within colleges stopped at the level of Vice-Dean. No Saudi female academic has previously held the position of dean of a college in any public university in the Kingdom, with the exception of Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, which is a private university for girls, in addition to female academics holding the same position in private colleges and universities.
Informed academic sources confirmed that the decision to appoint the Dean was based on the criteria of merit and scientific and practical competence, giving them precedence over the gender difference among faculty members in the college. They noted that the decision is consistent with the directives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in supporting women’s participation in the labour market, enhancing their role in the public and private sectors, and empowering them professionally.
For her part, Dr. Namangani said in her first statement to «Okaz»: “The state, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has done justice to women as important partners in serving the nation in many fields. I extend my gratitude to the Minister of Education, Dr. Ahmad Al-Issa, for his decision to appoint me as Dean of the College of Medicine at the University.
I also appreciate the role of the University President, Dr. Hussam bin Abdul Wahhab Zaman, in nominating me for this position, which supports the progress of women in the country. I affirm my commitment to strive diligently to achieve the hopes and aspirations placed upon me with my appointment to this new position, to elevate the College of Medicine to the highest levels of academic quality, in cooperation with my male and female colleagues, members of the faculty in the college.”
Dr.Namangani, a consultant in histopathology and anatomical pathology, in addition to her work as a faculty member at the College of Medicine, was serving as Acting Dean of University Studies at the same university – the highest position in the university pertaining to the female students’ section – before her appointment to her new position.
It appears that this decision will open the door wide for female faculty members in various public universities in the Kingdom to advance to higher academic positions in the future, and to break the limited career stagnation within the confines of women’s departments in colleges and female student sections in public universities.
It is noteworthy that the University, since the appointment of Dr. Hussam bin Abdul Wahhab Zaman, has launched many important programs and projects, most notably the “Program Transformation” program, which aims to develop all its academic programs, as well as to develop all study plans, to ensure the extent to which quality requirements and academic accreditation are met, and alignment with the labour market, and to improve the quality and efficiency of those programs; and the “Da’im” (Supporter) project to encourage new faculty members to contribute to scientific research.”
Regarding this event, the details of which were published by the newspaper, I wish to draw attention to the following:
1- The appointment of the female Dean by the Minister of Education, upon the nomination of the University President, is a grave offense to the Saudi people who adhere to Islamic morals and ethics. It is an offense to the Saudi state, which was founded upon the arbitration of the Book (the Qur’an) and the Sunnah, and as a result of which it achieved survival and continuity in its governance over the vast majority of the Arabian Peninsula. It is an offense to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman (hafidhahullah), by its occurrence and recording in history during his reign. This act by the Minister and the Director is a form of cooperation in sin and transgression, and it contradicts trustworthiness and indicates treachery. Allah (azza wa jall) said: “Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due” [An-Nisa 4:58], and He said: “O you who have believed, do not betray Allah and the Messenger or betray your trusts while you know [the consequence]” [Al-Anfal 8:27]. It is obligatory upon the Minister to rectify the matter and cancel his unjust decision, so that the country, government and people, may be safe from its evil effects and dire consequences.
2- If this unjust decision is implemented, it will be followed by the ease of intermingling (Ikhtilat) between male and female instructors and male and female students, and the resulting abolition of the closed-circuit screens through which men teach women, and the pursuit of mixing boys and girls in study seats. These means and ends are what the Westernizers, who follow their desires, seek in order to corrupt this country until it becomes similar to those countries that have preceded it in various forms of licentiousness by implementing Western plans to corrupt them. This is despite the fact that these concessions to appease the Westerners – Jews, Christians, and others – though they may please them, are not enough for them. Nothing will suffice them except that you follow their religion, as Allah (azza wa jall) said: “And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, ‘Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance.’ If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper” [Al-Baqarah 2:120].
Among what the eminent Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymin (rahimahullah) said about the danger of the Westernizers and their relentless efforts to cause corruption in this land and destroy the morals of its people, is his statement in his commentary on Riyadh As-Salihin (2/487) when explaining the Hadith: “Indeed, the world is sweet and green, and indeed, Allah has made you successors in it, and He observes how you will act. So, fear the world and fear women, for the first tribulation of the Children of Israel was because of women.” He said: “Therefore, it is obligatory upon us, as a Muslim nation, to oppose these ideas and to stand against them in every place and on every occasion, knowing that there exist among us a people – may Allah not increase their numbers nor let them achieve their aim– who desire this matter for this Muslim, peaceful, and conservative country. For they know that the last stronghold of the Muslims is this land which includes the sacred sites of the Muslims and the Qiblah of the Muslims, so that they may corrupt it, and thereby the entire Islamic Ummah becomes corrupted. For the entire Islamic Ummah looks to this land to see what it does. So if modesty and religion are demolished in this land, then peace be upon them (i.e., it’s over for them) and peace be upon religion and modesty. Therefore, I say: O my brothers, it is obligatory upon us – young, middle-aged, and old; scholars and learners – to oppose these ideas and to rally all people against them, so that they do not spread among us like fire in dry tinder and burn us. We ask Allah to turn the plots of those who orchestrate such matters against them, that He may not let them achieve their goals, and that He may suppress them by means of righteous men until their Fitnah is extinguished. Indeed, He is Bountiful, Most Generous.”
I say after this sincere and eloquent statement by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymin (rahimahullah): Where is the Ghirah (protective jealousy) over what is inviolable (female relatives)? Where is the distancing from the causes of Diyathah (lack of protective jealousy)? Where is modesty (Haya’)? Where is honor (Shahama)? Where is manliness (Rujulah)? Where is propriety/chivalry (Muru’ah)? Where is dignity (Anafah)? Where are the noble souls (An-Nufus Al-Abiyyah)? Where are the lofty aspirations (Al-Himam Al-‘Aliyyah)? Where are the virtues of men (Shiyam Ar-Rijal)? Where is the learning from those around us whose women preceded them in imitating Western women, so they uncovered their faces, and then their affair led to shameful nudity/undressing (At-Ta’arri Al-Mushin)? “So have they not travelled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts” [Al-Hajj 22:46]. O Allah, Your gentleness upon the remaining remnant, the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries.
3- The Westernizers in this country are, in reality, the true enemies of the Saudi state because they seek to bring about sins and violations of Shari’ah rulings, which bring grave harm upon the country, government and people. The Westernizers have no glory (Majd) themselves, and they strive diligently to destroy the glory of others, which is the great glory bequeathed by King Abdul Aziz (rahimahullah). How greatly do those who inherited this glory need to be wary of the schemes of these enemies who cause corruption in the land and do not bring about reform!
4- This event, the details of which Okaz published, is a great moral catastrophe that portends evil and a great tribulation if it is not rectified by the Minister cancelling his unjust decision. And if he does not do so, then how good and how excellent it would be if he and the University Director were to be met with their removal from their posts and made to taste the bitterness of dismissal from their positions.
I ask Allah (azza wa jall) not to hold us accountable for what the foolish among us have done, and to keep the Saudi land safe from the schemes of its Western and Westernizing enemies, and to preserve for it its security, its faith, its safety, and its Islam, and to suppress everyone who intends ill for it, and to guide those in authority therein – foremost among them the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman (hafidhahullah) – to all that has a praiseworthy outcome in this world and the Hereafter. Indeed, He is All-Hearing, All-Responsive.
And may Allah send peace, blessings, and grace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions.[1]
[1] Source: http://al-abbaad.com/articles/244302, https://salfi.net/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2921 .
Saheehus-Seerah 