Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. In a brief comment on the decision to separate male and female students at one of the medical colleges in Egypt, and the reactions of the students and the community, I would like to address some quick messages to my brothers and sisters, the students.
The First Message: Be a Key to Goodness
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Verily, among the people are those who are keys to goodness and locks to evil, and verily, among the people are those who are keys to evil and locks to goodness. So blessed is he whom Allah has made keys to goodness by his hand, and woe to him whom Allah has made keys to evil by his hand" (A hadith classified as good by Al-Albani).
Oh my brother and my sister, do not be a key to evil and a lock to goodness. A student may object to this decision because he does not want the atmosphere in the college to become dry and lose his daily enjoyment, not knowing that with this objection he may cause the closure of this door of goodness by separating the genders, thus bearing the burden of his batch and the coming batches that he causes to remain in an atmosphere of unlawful mixing.
The Second Message: The Danger of Rejecting Islamic Rulings
Brothers and sisters, students and student sisters, objecting to the separation is not a minor sin that can be expiated by prayer and charity, but it is a rejection of a ruling from the rulings of Allah the Most High. It is not only the ruler who is addressed to refer to what Allah has revealed, but the individuals as well.
Emotional relationships between the genders outside of marriage are forbidden, in which a person incurs sins that good deeds may not expiate. As for rejecting the separation as "Islamization of universities," this is a rejection of Allah's ruling that nullifies the deed. The Muslim we boast of is tender-hearted, loving Allah the Most High and His Messenger (peace be upon him), so he cannot reject Allah's rulings and be arrogant towards them. However, I direct this speech to the minority whom I fear for, for an act they may not realize the dangerous dimensions of.
The Third Message: Obedience to Allah's Command, Not Western Studies
Brothers and sisters, I will not come to you with American, German, French, and British studies that show the benefit of separating the genders and its effect on increasing academic achievement in some schools and even universities - although these studies are at hand - I will not come to you with these studies because I want you to adhere to the command of Allah the Most High in obedience to Him and love for Him, and in hope of His reward and fear of His punishment alone, and not for any worldly reasons.
If you support the decision for the sake of Allah, you will be rewarded. If you support it because of the studies, there is no reward for you. I fear for you that you may be like those whom Allah said about: {And when Allah Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter are filled with disgust and hatred, and when (they hear that) those (Allah's curses) are mentioned to them, they mock at them.} I fear for you that you may be disgusted by the separation when you hear "Allah said and His Messenger said," then you accept and submit when it is said to you, "American and British studies said." No, you are certainly, oh brother, and you are certainly, oh sister, of greater faith than that.
The Fourth Message: The Medical Student as a Role Model and Responsibility
I personally have been practicing university teaching for more than seven years, during which I have separated as much as possible, praise be to Allah, and no one from the students has objected, even though among them are Christians, Shiites, and atheists. This also applies to feelings and emotions; whoever leaves the forbidden pleasures for the sake of Allah the Most High, Allah will compensate him with the pleasure of faith, the soundness of the mind, and the opening to draw from religious and worldly sciences. He will also compensate him with the pleasure of knowing the truth and supporting the religion.
It is sufficient for him to feel that he is among the soldiers of Allah and the supporters of Allah in raising the nation and rescuing it from its bitter reality, instead of trying to benefit from this unlawful reality to satisfy his desires. You are medical students and students, and society looks at you with respect and takes you as role models. How beautiful it is that you dedicate your worldly success to serving your religion and pleasing your Lord, glory be to Him. Thus, you will be supporting the Prophet (peace be upon him) until people say: "Here are the followers of Muhammad, success in religion and success in the world."
The Fifth Message: Dimensions of the Plots Against the Islamic Awakening
Brothers and sisters, your enemies want mixing. In 1979, a study was published in the Arab newspapers prepared during the era of Anwar Sadat to combat the Islamic awakening, one of whose recommendations was to use emotional relationships between the genders in universities to combat the Islamic awakening.
The head of the committee that prepared the study is Hassan Al-Tahami (the Egyptian intelligence officer at the time), and among its members are the Minister of Interior, the head of General Intelligence, the head of State Security Investigations, and the head of Military Intelligence. All of them play the tune of university emotional relationships to combat the Islamic awakening, and their followers in our days attack the decision of separation and mock it, even with the announcement that it is the demand of the female students themselves. But these people are enraged by purity just as we are enraged by vice, and their inner voice says: {Get them out of your town. They are indeed people who seek to purify themselves.}
A Final Message to the College Authorities
May Allah reward you well, and we ask you to complete the separation, and we ask Allah to be your reward and the reward of those who work according to your example until the Day of Judgment. Hold on to your decision, and others will follow you at that time in other colleges and other universities and even other countries by the permission of Allah the Most High.
If you retreat, you will disappoint your peers from taking this good step. Blessed are you if you are keys to goodness and locks to evil. And we remind you of the saying of our Prophet (peace be upon him): "And know that the nation, if they gather to benefit you with something, they will not benefit you except with something that Allah has already written for you, and if they gather to harm you with something, they will not harm you except with something that Allah has already written for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried."
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.