First of all, we’d like to state that Islam is a comprehensive religion. It does consist of arts, sciences, economic, politics, culture and so on. It also consists of guidelines and rulings that govern these activities. Once those guidelines and rulings are respected then they should be considered as Islamic arts, sciences, politics, and economics. The Muslim community should be able to take part in all these disciplines and activities.
The Muslim community should not leave the arts and theater in the hands of non-Muslims, but Muslims must be able to produce their own forms of art and theater. At the same time, Muslims should not conduct the arts or theater in ways which contradict the teachings of Islam. All in all, the Muslim community needs Islamic arts, Islamic theaters, and Islamic economics. However, a correction would have to take place when there is a violation to the rules and guidelines of theShari`ah.
Dr. Marawan Shahin, Professor of Hadith and its Sciences, Faculty of Usul Ad-Din (Theology), Al-Azhar Univ. states: “Arts and movies are not rejected in Islam as long as they do not contain what is contradictory to the Islamic Shari`ah. We do not refuse the idea of going to the cinema from the first place but if this will lead to committing sins, then it will be prohibited in Islam.
It should be quite clear that in principle, contacts between men and women are not totally rejected; rather, recommendable so long as they abide by the Islamic guidance in this regard.
However, this by no means calls for transgressing the limits and forgetting about the nature of both sexes. It is prohibited for man and woman who are non-mahrams (i.e., those who are not close relatives) to be in a state of physical contact or free mixing that do not abide by the Islamic guidance regarding mixing between males and females. Thus, it will be prohibited if the existence of males and females is without restrictions that may result in free mixing without any restrictions.
To conclude, if the mixing of males and females in such a place is in a way that contradicts the Islamic Shari`ah, then going to such a place is prohibited.