What is the ruling on shaking hands with women who are not mahram (relatives one may not marry), such as a paternal aunt’s daughter or a maternal uncle’s daughter? Does shaking their hands invalidate the wudu' (ablution for prayer)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. What is the ruling on shaking hands with women who are not mahram, such as a paternal aunt’s daughter, a maternal uncle’s daughter, a maternal aunt, a maternal uncle’s daughter, or a brother’s wife? May Allah reward you with good. Does shaking their hands invalidate the hand?
Answer:
It is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not among his mahram, or a woman who is not lawful for him. A foreign woman is not lawful for him; it is not permissible for him to shake her hand or touch any part of her body, due to the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) involved in that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not shake hands with women, neither in the pledge of allegiance nor in any other context.
The hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not touch the hand of a woman who was not lawful for him. He only took the pledge of allegiance from women by speech, without shaking hands. Except when there is a dire necessity, such as the matter of medical treatment, if no female doctor is available and the woman is compelled to seek treatment, then there is no harm if the treatment depends on touching the area of need; there is no harm in that due to the dire necessity. However, as long as female doctors are available and the woman needs treatment, it is not permissible for her to be treated by men. As for the invalidation of wudu' by touching a woman, this is a point of disagreement among the scholars, with three opinions: it was said that it does not invalidate it absolutely; it was said that it invalidates it absolutely; and it was said that it invalidates it if accompanied by desire. This last opinion is likely the closest to the truth: if it is accompanied by desire, it invalidates the wudu'; because it is a place where something may come out of a person that invalidates the wudu'. Yes.
May Allah reward you with good and do you good. What is the ruling on shaking hands with women who are not mahram, such as a paternal aunt’s daughter, a maternal uncle’s daughter, a maternal aunt, a maternal uncle’s daughter, or a brother’s wife? May Allah reward you with good. Does shaking their hands invalidate the hand?
Answer:
It is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not among his mahram, or a woman who is not lawful for him. A foreign woman is not lawful for him; it is not permissible for him to shake her hand or touch any part of her body, due to the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) involved in that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not shake hands with women, neither in the pledge of allegiance nor in any other context.
The hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not touch the hand of a woman who was not lawful for him. He only took the pledge of allegiance from women by speech, without shaking hands. Except when there is a dire necessity, such as the matter of medical treatment, if no female doctor is available and the woman is compelled to seek treatment, then there is no harm if the treatment depends on touching the area of need; there is no harm in that due to the dire necessity. However, as long as female doctors are available and the woman needs treatment, it is not permissible for her to be treated by men. As for the invalidation of wudu' by touching a woman, this is a point of disagreement among the scholars, with three opinions: it was said that it does not invalidate it absolutely; it was said that it invalidates it absolutely; and it was said that it invalidates it if accompanied by desire. This last opinion is likely the closest to the truth: if it is accompanied by desire, it invalidates the wudu'; because it is a place where something may come out of a person that invalidates the wudu'. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم مصافحة النساء من غير المحارم، كابنة العمة، وابنة العم وهل مصافحتهن تنقض الوضوء؟ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.