women and sport

[Surriya]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

Is it okay for muslim women to play sports provided its with other women and not males?

And if a muslim woman does play a sport does it have to be with other muslim women or is it okay to play with non-muslim women?

The following hadith does it mean women aren't allowed to go swimming?

"Some women from Homs or from Sham (now the area of Damascus) came to 'A'ishah. She asked, 'Do you enter the public baths? I heard the Messenger of Allah saying that a woman who undresses anywhere else other than in her own house tears off the Satr (shelter) which lies between her and her Lord .' " [At-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud]

JazakhAllah for your time and answer

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu



Praise be to Allah Almighty the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon Our Master, the Most Beloved Prophet and Final Messenger (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).



Jazakallah for your question sister. There are two issues here which are separate, and they are:


a) Playing sport, and

b) Entering baths i.e. humam.


As far as sports are concerned, then there is nothing in the Qur'an al kareem or hadith that says that a woman is not allowed to have a bit of exercise, by going to play badminton, netball, or whatever the sport is, that women play.


I also believe that the woman who is going to play, is doing so for the sake of exercise, looking after her health, keeping fit etc. This again is permissable so long as the woman is dressed appropriately, is still covered by the hair, and is not showing her legs by wearing a garment which is normally used by sporting women. In such a case, a tracksuit, or baggy bottoms, or even normal clothes, if they are changed afterwards would also suffice, provided the above conditions are met.


What a man or a woman, should not do, is take a shower amongst other women, or men amongst other men, while they are stark naked, or where naked people can be seen. This way you will not be guarding your eyes, nor will you be guarding your own privacy (satr). If however you take a shower in a cubicle, or you have a shower on your own as long as you are covered from the waist down and below your knees, then this also is perfectly permissable.


The hadith that has been referred to by yourself, is a hadith, when Islam had recently spread into Sham, and the old practices of Sham, had to be overtaken by the more modern practices of Islam, which was to disallow women into public baths known as humams.


There still exist humams today, but the practice of women attending them has long been abolished, because of the integrity, pride, and shame, that a woman carries. This is why, I have always discouraged for teenagers to quit taking showers in front of other pupils, whether they are boys or whether they are girls, whether they are at school or whether they are at college, whether they are juniors or whether they are seniors, so that hadiths, and similar hadiths like the one you have mentioned, can be acted upon, and it can be known, that it is the Muslims who have a sense of shame, a sense of pride, and a sense of integrity. I hope that i have answered the Question that was asked.



May Allah the Almighty help all our children, who are at school, may He make ways for them that are easy, and may He upohold our Islamic Prestige, Honour, and Integrity, until its last bits, until the Day of Judgement.



Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab



M. Waseem Ashrafi