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This wikipedia article mentions that some 400 women joined the Iranian police force between 1979 and 2003.

This answer gives a pretty good explanation of women working outside the home. It seems to me that police work would directly go against the guidelines in the accepted answer.

As I understand, Shia Islam is the official religion in Iran. Is this a general Shia guideline? If not, what justification is there for this type of thing?

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are you asking for the shia view? – Al Ummat مجاهد♦ Nov 27 '12 at 21:23
Yes, but specifically Shia in Iran. I was surprised to find out about this because I had thought that in Islam generally, women do not have a public role in the workforce if they do work. I assume that there is some religious justification for this. – tjameson Nov 27 '12 at 21:37
ok, well if you would like more information about it see this: islam.stackexchange.com/questions/5573/… As for the asking for a certain view like shia or sunni view, you can put that in parenthesis in the question title, I edited your question, see it for an example of it. You do not have to do it, but if you are looking for a certain view, it would be recommended you do it. If you don't, than it means that you are open to answers from more than one view, which is ok. – Al Ummat مجاهد♦ Nov 27 '12 at 21:50
This seems more about Muslims than Islam. That's usually an indicator that it's not a good fit for our site. – ashes999 Nov 28 '12 at 0:31
I think guideline is not the right word here. As long as the job does not necessitate committing haram it is permissible. – rowman Nov 28 '12 at 17:42

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote

Just imagine Police wants to arrest a female suspect. What to do if all the Police forces are men? In many cases there would be no solution without breaking Shari'ah laws like the situation that the Police force needs to touch or catch the female suspect.

Shari'ah has limitations on the relationships between stranger men and women, for looking or touching, some of them included in Quran and some of them in Sunnah:

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Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do. - Al Nur, 30

In this case, and many other cases you can imagine, there are female Police forces needed to respect Shari'ah laws of Maharim (محارم) and to avoid a Policeman to touch or catch a woman.

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citation, citations. Answers here must have citations. Please provide citations to back up your answer, and raise the quality of it. – Al Ummat مجاهد♦ Nov 27 '12 at 23:36
@AlUmmat Thanks. answer modified – Ali Nov 28 '12 at 0:06
that Ayah does not support your question at all, it only refers to guarding the sight. A similar thing came in the next Ayah after this but for women believers. I removed my downvote though. – Al Ummat مجاهد♦ Nov 28 '12 at 0:31
@AlUmmat If you know any better Ayah that makes restriction in relationships of stranger men and women, please feel free to edit the answer. However guarding the sight is also a limitation of Shari'ah that makes a good reason why women Police are needed in many situations, when the suspect is female – Ali Nov 28 '12 at 16:08
+1, as you said catching, accompanying, body searching for females, being secret police, and some other roles makes females-being-police a need like the need is for sufficient females to become physicians. – owari Nov 28 '12 at 18:56

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