Aḥmad Riḍā Khān Fatwā: “Female Literacy is Forbidden”!

In a Fatwā dated 1316 H (1898), Aḥmad Riḍā Khān Barelwī was asked about female literacy. He wrote in reply:

To teach women writing is forbidden in Sharī‘ah and is the way of Christians and is to open the door to thousands of Fitnahs and to put a sword in the hand of a drunk madman. Many* experiences attest to its severe harms. Multiple ḥadīths have been related on its prohibition, the sanad of one of which upon investigation is strong in itself. Imām al-Bayhaqī indicated** the original text of the ḥadīth is known and preserved. Furthermore, multiple routes is another strength. The practice of the Ummah and acceptance of the ‘Ulamā’ is a third strength. The matter of precaution and blocking Fitnah is a fourth strength. Hence the ḥadīth is not less than ḥasan, and it being a clear text on prohibition is evident. This is different from the ḥadīth of Shifā bint ‘Abdillāh [which is not clear in permitting writing]… There is no clear ḥadīth on permission at all. (Fatawa Riḍawiyya, 23:654)

(The full Fatwā can be found in Fatawa Riḍawiyya, 23:654-679; see also Jāmi‘ ul-Aḥādīth, Muḥammad Ḥanīf Khān Riḍawī, 4:179-81)