Physical Exercising (PE) at Schools in the West

In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be you.

My niece is 14 years old and she is adult and studies at a coed school here in Canada. What is the Shari`ah ruling about wearing sports wear, i.e. pants, a long shirt, and a head cover, and practicing in front of boys, though if she did not attend such exercises she would fail in that subject. I want to ask about the authenticity of this Hadith: "Whosoever a woman takes off her clothes in places other than her house, then she would have actually ruptured the separating line between her and Allah", though she changes her sports wear at school in girls` restroom in safety and security. Jazakum Allahu Khairan.

Answer

In the Name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon His kind Messenger, his family members, companions and followers.

The basis is that girls should practice separate from boys, to avoid consequences of temptation that may arise as a result of intermingling. Women should not take off their clothes in places other than her house so as not to rupture the separating line between her and Allah.

Taking off is meant here to take off clothes that may entice a suspicious act which may lead to committing a sin or leads to commit it.

Therefore, if there is no Islamic alternative for such school, and she could not be exempted from that subject, and hence her failure in it and in the final exams, then we have nothing to say except to ask her to fear Allah as much as possible, and that she should wear loose pants that do not reveal the features of her body, and her shirt must be loose, too, and exercise only the necessary parts of the subject, because necessity requires doing the least and at the same time, trying hard to find the release from it.

Allah knows best.