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In Allah's name, Most Merciful,
Compassionate. Praise be to Allah.

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Peace and blessings be upon
His chosen Prophet.

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our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his family,
and all his Companions. Now then.

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I thank Allah, then I thank the General
Presidency for Religious Affairs.

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represented by the Agency for Religious
Affairs at the Prophet's Mosque.

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for giving me the opportunity
to participate in this academic paper.

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titled: Women's role in guiding
and advising visitors: fatwa as a model.

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Speaking about women's role
in guidance and counseling is

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It is about the role of the General
Presidency's Agency for Religious Affairs.

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at al-Haram and the Prophet's Mosque,
and the role of its Guidance Agency.

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and the role of the Inquirers'
Guidance Dept.

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These departments were only established
to guide visitors and advise them.

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whether through fatwa, as will
be shown, or otherwise.

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Among what has been heard and seen
is a Report device for Haramain visitors.

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With simultaneous translation in it
in eleven languages.

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Likewise, devices have been provided
to connect with shaykhs remotely.

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And guidance and informational
materials were provided in many languages.

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And much more, all to make fatwa
easier for those who need it.

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All that shows the departments named
earlier are doing the work assigned.

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And while mentioning this development
and progress with pride and honor.

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Yet it is only one means and method
of guidance and direction.

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And it fills a great need in many matters.

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But it cannot replace a human,
with feelings and a smile.

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his asking, probing further,
and noting the asker's state.

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Likewise, a man cannot fill
a woman's role in guidance or counsel.

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Each has a role to play.
And women have private questions.

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In many cases, a woman may
confide in another woman.

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what she may not tell her husband,
much less a stranger.

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A woman may understand
the female asker's state and feelings.

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And what lies within her words may not
occur to a man.

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Likewise, a woman's strong emotions
can weaken her work and judgment.

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The hadith forbidding women
to visit graves.

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And other such cases support
the point I mean.

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Therefore, a female guide and mufti
among visiting women is necessary.

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She sees a lack and remedies it,
and an error and corrects it.

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She sees a wrong, forbids it,
and it is abandoned.

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And ignorance, which she dispels
by Allah's leave.

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All this eases knowledge and practice,
after Allah grants success

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to women visiting
the Prophet's Mosque.

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If the importance of having a woman
guide, and of her role, is clear.

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As for guiding female visitors,
in broad terms.

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Her role will now be explained in
some further detail.

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And before detailing women's role
in guidance and direction.

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The paper discussed defining fatwa
and its link to guidance and direction.

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It showed that fatwa reports
Allah ﷻ's ruling on what is asked.

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It is clarification and guidance
on the Sharia ruling, not imposing it.

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A fatwa is an answer to a question.
That is common in guidance and direction.

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at the Prophet's Mosque, where
female visitors ask many questions.

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These need the Sharia ruling
explained to them.

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In this sense, fatwa is narrower
than guidance and direction.

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Guidance may explain the Sharia ruling
to one who asked, or one who did not.

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So teaching and the like are included.
Guidance may also give a Sharia ruling.

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It may also concern things other
than rulings, like people or places.

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Fatwa is broader in common use
than in technical usage.

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For in common usage, it includes
one who relays another's Sharia ruling.

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For example: 'Shaykh Abd al-Aziz
ibn Baz RH said such-and-such.'

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Or: 'Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin RH
ruled such-and-such.'

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And the one conveying it need not
meet the conditions of a mufti.

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It is enough that he know and
accurately relay it.

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The paper also addressed whether
women may issue fatwas.

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There is no dispute
that women may do so.

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Al-Nawawi RH said: Among a mufti's
conditions is that he be Muslim.

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That he be accountable, Muslim,
trustworthy, and reliable.

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Free of causes of immorality
and breaches of propriety.

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With fiqh insight, clear-minded,
and level-headed.

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Sound in judgment and deduction,
and alert—these apply

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equally to free persons,
slaves, and women, etc.

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Islamic history is full of
examples of women issuing fatwa.

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since the time of the
Companions (RA).

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Foremost among them was
Aisha, Mother of the Believers (RA).

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Men and women sought her
for fatwa.

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Ibn al-Qayyim RH counted among the
Companions those who gave many fatwas.

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And he mentioned among them
Aisha (RA).

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He counted Umm Salama (RA)
among the moderate muftis.

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And Safiyyah and Hafsah, Mothers
of the Believers (RA), gave few fatwas.

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After those introductions, I cited
what women do in the Prophet's Mosque.

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Women's role in guidance and fatwa
for women, through the following points.

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First, there are existing services
by the Guidance and Counseling Agency.

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through the Inquirers' Affairs Department.
Women provide them, just as men do.

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That includes designating locations
inside the mosque.

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They are placed to receive visitors'
questions, apart from the main office.

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And eight phone booths were set up
four of them on the eastern side.

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and four on the western side,
to answer their questions.

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A select group of scholars
answer them.

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with dedicated toll-free numbers
to guide callers by phone.

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Second, the success of guidance,
counsel, and fatwa for seekers

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depends, after Allah ﷻ's help, on
the strength of the truth to be conveyed.

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and the right way to convey it,
while knowing the one addressed.

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The first two require real knowledge
and insight into the ruling.

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Say, 'This is my way: I call to Allah
ﷻ with insight.' It requires

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To convey it: ability, skill, training,
and wisdom, as will follow, Allah willing.

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As for the third—knowing the
invitee's state—it is no less vital.

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This is shown by the hadith of Mu'adh
when the Prophet ﷺ sent him.

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to Yemen and told him their state.
"You are going to a people of the Book."

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Then he explained the wisdom in
what he should call them to first.

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Female visitors to the Prophet's
Mosque vary in approach, madhhabs, creed.

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Some come with prior positive or
negative views of the Haramain's people.

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Some are educated; some illiterate.
Some are argumentative and obstinate.

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Others are ignorant and inquire
with good intent.

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Each one requires her own
approach: ignore or guide her.

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Since guidance, counsel, and fatwa hinge
on knowing truth and conveying it.

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So the women working in guidance
and counseling took special care.

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to identify the most frequent
questions through a survey for them.

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This paper addressed them for study
and to unify fatwas and guidance.

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Fatwas of the Council of Senior
Scholars were cited in it.

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Thus they attain knowledge and insight

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And experience in the work amid many
female questioners

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gives the female guide experience
and skill in rightly conveying truth.

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There are also training courses
held from time to time.

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to improve the staff's skills
in dealing best with visitors.

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Third, among the roles women play
in the Prophet's Mosque.

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are guidance and giving fatwas
to women.

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holding seasonal lessons on the
rulings of visitation, Hajj, and Umrah.

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while leaving a large part of the
lesson for answering female questioners.

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Twelve chairs for guidance and
instruction were set up for women.

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Among what deserves praise, mention,
and thanks is what we heard last Hajj.

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An initiative called the Imams' Chair
for fatwa and answering questioners.

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At the Prophet's Mosque, where its imams
and its preachers give fatwa and guidance.

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It is an initiative whose scope must
be expanded to provide fatwa chairs.

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for qualified female scholars,
with Madinah scholarly institutions.

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Fourth, among the announcements by
the Guidance and Counseling Agency

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Represented by the Department of
Teaching Affairs and Quran circles.

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announcing 1,000 Qur'an
teaching circles.

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Within it are a thousand male and female
guides who teach visitors, men and women.

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Usually, sitting before the male or
female teacher includes Q&A and guidance.

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Fifth: drawing on the wives
of scholarship students at Islamic Univ.

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for translation and guidance
in their native tongue, by hiring them.

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That is after selecting those qualified
among them in creed and knowledge.

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This is already a practical reality.
No doubt it aids grasp and acceptance.

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and better conveys the message.

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Help can also be sought from
students at the Prophet's Mosque College.

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of different nationalities, to benefit
from them in translation.

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to make use of every possible means
to serve women visitors.

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Sixth: guidance and teaching
through year-round study or hifz circles

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This gives resident local women
culture and knowledge whose fruits return.

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most of all to the women visitors
to Masjid Nabawi.

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stressing the importance of

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Caring for them through direct
guidance or leaflets.

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Especially study-circle teachers,
so they can actively guide women visitors.

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while in the mosque, guiding them
and students to official desks

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and explaining services for women.

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Then the paper concluded by listing
women visitors' most frequent questions.

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with answers, and it limited itself

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by citing fatwas of Saudi Arabia's
Permanent Scholarly Research Committee

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If none were found, then from the
fatwas of Shaykh Ibn Baz RH, perhaps

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a resource for women muftis
and guides.

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And in the hope that it will be printed
after review by Religious Affairs.

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at the General Presidency for the
Haramain, and in multiple languages.

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for distribution to women visitors
to achieve the goal

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The hoped-for goal: guiding them
to correct practice. And Allah knows best.

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And peace and blessings on our Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ, his family, all Companions.

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[Birds chirping].