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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on shaking hands with a non-mahram woman?

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Question:
What is the ruling on shaking hands with a non-mahram woman?

Answer:
It is forbidden; it is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not one of his mahram (a relative one may not marry), nor with his wife; it is not permissible for him to shake hands with a foreign woman, because this is a cause of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), and because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not shake hands with women, even when taking the pledge of allegiance. He would take the pledge from them by speech, whereas he would take the pledge from men by shaking hands. As for the women, he would take their pledge by speech. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The hand of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never touched the hand of a woman who was not lawful for him.” Rather, he would take the pledge from women by speech. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
But I do not shake hands with women.اني لا اصافح النساء.
Sunan Ibn Majah 2874Sahih (Darussalam)
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم مصافحة المرأة الأجنبية؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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