Is it permissible for a man to say to his wife, "This is my close friend," or to his friend, "This is my close friend"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is it permissible for a man to say to his wife, "This is my close friend," or to his friend, "This is my close friend"?
The Shaykh:
There is no harm in it, because he is not a close friend of Allah. He says what he wishes, because he is not a close friend of Allah. This is only in the case of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who does not say, "So-and-so is my close friend." As for you, take whomever you wish as close friends. Yes.
The presenter:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
Because Allah has not taken you as a close friend, so you must refrain. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is it permissible for a man to say to his wife, "This is my close friend," or to his friend, "This is my close friend"?
The Shaykh:
There is no harm in it, because he is not a close friend of Allah. He says what he wishes, because he is not a close friend of Allah. This is only in the case of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who does not say, "So-and-so is my close friend." As for you, take whomever you wish as close friends. Yes.
The presenter:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.
The Shaykh:
Because Allah has not taken you as a close friend, so you must refrain. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [412 /641] هل يجوز أن يقول الرجل لزوجته هذه خليلتي أو لصديقه هذا خليلي؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.