Men shaking hands with women on the festival and other forbidden abominations

Question:
May Allah reward you with good. He says: In our village, on the day of the festival, after the festival prayer, the people go out to visit one another and visit the entire village. There is free mixing of men and women in the streets, and handshakes take place between men and women. A woman holds a man’s hand and prays for his blessing, children, marriage, and the like. Please inform us, may Allah reward you with good. What is the advice for these people, and what is the ruling on a man shaking hands with a woman? May Allah reward you with the best reward.

Answer:
Visiting among neighbors and relatives is a required and desirable matter on the day of the festival and on other days, because it indicates maintaining family ties, good neighborliness, and getting to know one another and connecting among Muslims. So, visiting among Muslims and neighbors is a required matter on the day of the festival and on other days. As for free mixing with women and shaking hands with women who are not their mahram (relatives one may not marry), these are abominations and forbidden acts that must be avoided on the day of the festival and on other days, because of the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) that occurs between men and women due to this free mixing and this handshake. There is no harm in greeting with words, by greeting the woman and she prays for him, or he greets her and she responds to him, without a handshake and without fitnah as well. However, if fitnah is feared, then she does not greet him. It is obligatory for Muslims to be aware of this and to stay away from fitnah and the causes of fitnah, because they bring nothing but evil upon them. Congratulating one another on the day of the festival is permissible among Muslims, by saying, “May Allah accept from us and from you,” or “May Allah return it to us and to you with goodness, blessing, acceptance, and forgiveness,” or the like. So, congratulating and making du'a' (supplication) on this day is permissible. Imam Ahmad used to say, “I do not initiate this with anyone, but if someone initiates it with me, I respond to him. Yes.”