By Shaykh Mohammed Haroon Abasoomer
Question:
There is a hadith that says don’t teach women ‘kitabat’ (to write). (Al-Mishkat and Abu Da’wud) First of all what did Rasulullah ( mean by ‘kitabat’? Is it the compilation of books? I read in the explanation of this hadith in the book ‘Behnon ki Chadar’ by Abu Talha Muhammad Younis that it means: do not teach your women how to write. So, I’d like to know why he said this when there is another hadith saying the exact opposite, that ‘knowledge is compulsory for every male and female’. So what is the difference between ‘Ilm and ‘kitabat’?