Is it permissible for a Muslim physician to specialize in gynecology obstetrics, and what is the ruling on working as such?
Some fields of knowledge are an individual duty while others are a collective one, and specializing in gynecology obstetrics is a collective duty. However, if there were female physicians to treat women, then there is no need for a male gynecology obstetrics specialist to look at women`s Awrahs (private parts) except in necessary situations since the jurisprudential maxim says:” Necessity must only be assessed and answered proportionately.” And Allah Knows Best.
What is the ruling on having brotherly ties between a strange man and a strange woman, and is the former considered a Mahram (unmarriageable) to the latter?
Such a relation between a strange man and a strange woman is forbidden in Islam because it involves forbidding what Allah has allowed by marriage, and allowing what Allah has forbidden such as looking and the like. Such a relation doesn`t render any act lawful between them, thus they are forbidden to look at each other, have a Khulwah (seclusion), and travel together.
What is the Islamic ruling on adoption, and what is the legal window through which a person can be kind to an orphan girl, attend to her needs and raise her as his own?
Kindness to an orphan entails a great reward from Allah, but adoption is prohibited and invalid. Therefore, it is permissible for the aforementioned person (for example) to make his brother`s wife breastfeed that girl so that he becomes her uncle by suckling provided that he informs her that she isn`t his biological daughter.
A man donated a burial plot, but before registering it in favor of the Ministry of Awqaf and before burying anybody there he said that he didn`t want to donate it and planted it. What is the ruling of Sharia on this?
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
If he had endowed it as a cemetery, then he can`t take it back, even if he didn`t register it in favor of the Ministry of Awqaf. If he said: "I have endowed this plot as a cemetery, then it becomes an endowment." However, if he didn`t endow that plot-but it was his intention to do so-then he is allowed to back down. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.