Weak Hadeeth # 3 : Restrict women to their rooms, do not teach them to write but sewing and surah noor

لاتنزلوا النساء بالغرف ولا تعلموهن الكتابة وعلموهن المغزل وسورة النور

The prophet (s.a.w) was reported to have said : " "Do not let the women come down the room and do not teach them to write, while teach them the spindle/spinning wheel and surah al Noor


A question about it's authenticity was asked to the scholars (may allah preserve them all) of Islamweb. their response was
 : 

فقد روي كلام موضوع نسب كذبا إلى عائشة رضي الله عنها، وأنها ترفعه إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وفيه: لا تنزلوهن الغرف ولا تعلموهن الكتابة وعلموهن المغزل وسورة النور. وفي رواية: واستعينوا عليهن بالعري، وأكثروا لهن من قول لا، فإن نعم تغريهن على المسألة.

هذا الخبر موضوع من غير شك، ففي سنده محمد بن إبراهيم الشامي. قال ابن الجوزي: هذا الحديث لا يصح، محمد بن إبراهيم الشامي كان يضع الحديث. ونقل الذهبي عن الدارقطني تكذيبه، وقال ابن حجر: منكر الحديث. 

Source: http://fatwa.islamweb.net/fatwa/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&lang=A&Id=53572

This  tradition is a fabrication , a lie upon `Aisha wherein (it is reported that she) attributed this towards the prophet sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam. and it is .....

This narration is fabricated without a doubt. It has Muhammad ibn Ibraahim as-Shaami in it's sanad (chain of narrators). About him Ibn Jawzi rahimahullah said this hadeeth is not authentic. And Muhammad ibn Ibraahim fabricates reports. Ad-daraqutni and Dhahabi wrote about him being a liar and Ibn Hajar said his reports are rejected 

This report comes from many sources. I just surfed through some of them and all of them have this individual making this riwaayah weak. Even if he wasn't weak this report was rejected because it contradicts other ahadeeth and teachings of the prophet with regards to education and good behaviour towards or for women.  These narrations or articles will be displayed towards the end In sha allah. 

The following scholars (AND MORE) have commented upon this narration: 

 [فيه] محمد بن إبراهيم الشامي يضع الحديث على الشاميين لا تحل الرواية عنه إلا عند الاعتبار

Ibn Hajar in al-Majrooheen (2/320) commented upon this narration mentioning Muhammad 

 ibn Ibraahim as a fabricator 

  Al-Bayhaqi in Sh`ab al-Emaan (2/962) recorded this  saying the chain of narration is 

rejected [بهذا الإسناد منكر]

Ibn Qisrani in Tadhkiratul Huffadh (382) and Ma`rifatal Tadhkirah (248) said Muhammad ibn Ibraahim used to fabricate upon Ahl as-Shaam and he fabricates (narrations) 

Adh-Dhahabi in Meezan al-`Itedaal (3/446) and commented that Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem is Majrooh (criticised) 

Al-Haythami in Majma` Az-Zawaid (4/96) quoted ad-daraqutni saying that muhammad ibn Ibraaheem is a kaddhab (liar) 

From another chain, Ibn Hajar in Ithaaf al-Maharah (17/344) says `Abdul Wahhab is matrook; Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem is a liar and Ibn Hibban as categorized him among the fabricators 

 As-Sakhawi in

 الأجوبة المرضية (7/88)

Said : Ibn Hibban said he used to fabricate narrations upon the people of shaam 

Imaam Shawkaani in Nayl al-Awtar (6/21) says Muhammad ibn Ibraahim is a liar as mentioned by Daraqutni as well 

 It is also reported in معالم التنزيل تفسير البغوي 
And in Mustadrak Hakim with the same chain and is weak

The Jarh of some more muhadditheen and scholars on Muhammad ibn Ibraahim as-

Shaami ( -محمد بن إبراهيم الشامي)

أبو أحمد الحاكم

 - ليس بالمتين عندهم

أبو أحمد بن عدي الجرجاني

منكر الحديث، وعامة أحاديثه غير محفوظة

أبو حاتم بن حبان البستي

يضع الحديث على الشاميين، لا تحل الرواية عنه إلا عند الاعتبار

أبو سعيد بن عمرو النقاش

روى أحاديث موضوعة

أبو عبد الله الحاكم النيسابوري

روى أحاديث موضوعة

أبو نعيم الأصبهاني

محمد بن إبراهيم الشامي، عن الوليد بن مسلم، وشعيب بن إسحاق، وبقية، وسويد بن عبد العزيز موضوعات

This narration is found in the Books of Shi`a as well: 

92- Section on dislike of women coming down the room and teaching them writing and surah al Yusuf, and desirability of teaching them the spindle/spinning wheel and surah al Nur, and the obligation of enjoining good and forbidding from evil to the household/family. 

[ 25355 ] 1 ـ محمد بن يعقوب ، عن علي بن إبراهيم ، عن أبيه ، عن النوفلي ، عن السكوني ، عن أبي عبدالله ( عليه السلام ) قال : قال رسول الله ( صلى الله عليه وآله ) : لا تنزلوا النساء الغرف ولا تعلموهن الكتابة وعلموهن المغزل وسورة النور . 
 ورواه الصدوق بإسناده عن إسماعيل بن أبي زياد ، يعني السكوني ، مثله


[25355] 1: Muhammad b. Ya'qoob, from Ali b. Ibrahim, from his father, from al Nofali, from al Sakuni , from abi Abdullah who said: "Do not let the women come down the room and do not teach them to write, while teach them the spindle/spinning wheel and surah al Noor." And Shaikh Sadooq  narrated it by his isnaad from Ismail b. abi Ziyad, i.e. al Sakuni, (and) similar to it.

This is reported by one of their greatest Imaams - Al-Kulyani as well. 

[Ref: الكافي ج5 ص516 ح1، ورواه الصدوق في من لا يحضره الفقيه ج1 ص245 ح1089/9، وج3 ص280 ح1336/11] 

See here : http://shiaonlinelibrary.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/1594_%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%AC-%D9%A2%D9%A0/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%81%D8%AD%D8%A9_266

 THOUGH THE ISNAD IS WEAK, THE CONTENT IS BAATIL 

Narrated Ash-Shifa', daughter of Abdullah,:

The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) entered when I was with Hafsah, and he said to me: Why do you not teach this one the spell for skin eruptions as you taught her writing

[Sunan Abi Dawud, Book of Medicine, 3887, Saheeh al Albaanee]

Something that is unique to this ummah - The women scholars of Islam - the muhaddithaat - http://the-finalrevelation.blogspot.com/2013/01/muhaddithaat-women-scholars-of-hadith.html

Finally, see how the prophet (s.a.w) treated his own wives : http://the-finalrevelation.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-the-prophet-treated-his-wives.html

As for restricting them to their rooms , then this is again an exxageration. Islam does encourage the mother to fulfil her responsibilities which allah has ordained i.e with respect to her family, husband, children and their upbringing and nurturing but at the same time does not prohibit her from "getting out of room/house" as and when required provided she maintains the islamic decorum or abides by the shar`ee ruling of Hijab . 

The wives of the prophet (s.a.w) and many other women among the Quraysh and Ansaar used to work. The prophet's first wife, khadeejah radhiallahu `anhu was a businesswomen. the prophet's sister in law , the daughter of the prophet's best friend i.e Asma bint Abi Bakr radhiallahu `anhu, the wife of the maginificient sahaabi Zubayr ibn al-Awwam radhiallahu `anhu used to do both outdoor and indoor works 

Asma' daughter of Abu Bakr said:

"Az-Zubayr (ibn al-'Awwam, a cousin of the Prophet, through his aunt) married me. He had neither wealth, slave or anything else like it, except a camel (to get water) and a horse. I used to graze his horse, provide fodder to it and look after it, and ground dates for his camel. Besides this, I grazed the camel, made arrangements for providing it with water and patched up his leather bucket and kneaded the flour. But I was not proficient in baking the bread, so my female neighbors used to bake bread for me and they were sincere women. And I used to carry on my head the stones (seeds) of the dates from az-Zubayr's land which Allah's Messenger had endowed him, and it was at a distance of two miles (from Madinah).

[Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad; additional narrations are from Muslim]

The wives of the prophet , used to earn with their hand whatever they could. we have such narrations too in our books of history and compilations under the seerah of the khulafah e rashideen. Shaykh `Ali Muhammad as-Sallabi hafidhahullah, his book on the seerah of `Umar and other khulafah shows how they used to send some amount to the wives of the prophet despite them working by their own will 

Also see :  WOMEN AROUND THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH - A BOOK DESCRIBING THE RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT AND BRAVERY OF THE WOMEN AROUND THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH - http://www.mediafire.com/?k0gemedvgon3ccd

THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN ISLAM : SOMETHING WHICH NO RELIGION HAS AND NO COUNTRY HAD BEFORE A FEW DECADES  - 

(i)https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.islamhouse.com/d/data/en/ih_articles/single/en_Women_Rights.pdf

(ii) http://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_articles/single/en_womens_rights.pdf

(iii) Clearing the Misconceptions about Women in Islam 

GREAT WOMEN OF ISLAM: http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Great%20Women%20of%20Islam.pdf

There is a lot more which i could add here but i suppose the above shall suffice both Non Muslims as well as modern Muslims and munafiqeen who find ways to attack Islam.