Is It Impermissible to Go to a Mixed Gym?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I am a 22-year-old male living in the West. Is it permissible for me to go to a mixed gym with music? As you probably know, it is very difficult, maybe impossible, for me to find a gym without even one of these two elements.
I will be wearing Bluetooth headphones, so I will not hear music. As for lowering my gaze, I would muddy my glasses so I could not see women in revealing clothes.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health.
Mindfulness (taqwa) would be to avoid mixed gyms and find other alternative ways to exercise, like investing in a home gym or with an exercise buddy to do specific important exercises sufficient to keep you fit and strong. If this is not possible, try to choose the most suitable shift for exercising or choose a place where you have privacy for working out and do not see naked or mixed exercising people. At the same time, continue looking for male-only gyms.
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.
Related
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org), like from the Youth Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org), building your way up doing each course?
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
