Advice on hiring domestic workers?

Question : The questioner asks: Is it permissible for me to hire a domestic worker from a foreign Muslim country, given that my wife works and I have children?

Answer : First, we should not let luxury reach the point where it leads to ruin. Since Allah has blessed us, and praise be to Allah, with this blessing, some people have become boastful in hiring domestic workers. As a result, women have suffered from many illnesses due to idleness and lack of exposure to sunlight and fresh air. You find a woman always in this state, never breathing fresh air, because she does not go out or work. You find her afflicted with laziness and boredom, and she may even suffer from psychological disorders, because when the body becomes idle, the mind becomes idle, and when the mind becomes idle, it wanders here and there, and it is beset by whispers that may compromise its soundness and uprightness. Therefore, my advice to my brothers, first and foremost, is to stop importing or employing these workers except in cases of extreme necessity. If a person is forced by extreme necessity to do so, there is no blame on him, provided there is no fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). If there is fitnah, such as hiring a young, beautiful maid, that leads to fitnah, either from the man who is the head of the household or from his sons and children. It is also necessary that she be accompanied by a mahram (a relative one may not marry), because she cannot come from her country without a mahram, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) And because if she does not come with a mahram, the people of the household may need to travel to visit a relative, or to visit Madinah, for example, or to visit Makkah for 'Umrah or Hajj, and they will face a problem. So my advice is that they should not hire a worker except out of necessity, and that she be accompanied by a mahram.