Does touching a woman invalidate the ablution, whether she is his wife or not, and is there a difference of opinion among the four schools of jurisprudence?

The questioner : Does touching a woman invalidate the ablution, whether she is the man's wife or someone else, and is there a difference of opinion on this among the four schools of jurisprudence? I am committed to the Shafi'i school.

The Shaykh : Touching a woman who is not a mahram (a relative one may not marry) is forbidden, whether it is for sexual desire or not. Accordingly, it is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not among his mahram, absolutely, whether for sexual desire or not. As for if the woman is his wife, it is permissible for him to touch her for sexual desire or not. The correct view is that his ablution is not invalidated, whether he touches her for sexual desire or not, unless something exits from him as a result of this touching, in which case his ablution is invalidated by the exiting substance, such as if he emits pre-seminal fluid, for example. As for mere touching, even for sexual desire, it does not invalidate the ablution. This is the stronger position among the opinions of the scholars.
As for the questioner's question about whether there is a difference of opinion among the scholars on this? There is a difference of opinion. Some scholars hold that touching a woman invalidates the ablution, whether for sexual desire or not. Some hold that it does not invalidate it, whether for sexual desire or not. And some distinguish, saying that if he touches her for sexual desire, his ablution is invalidated, and if he does not touch her for sexual desire, his ablution is not invalidated. But the correct view is that it is not invalidated absolutely, unless something exits from him. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. This message is from the questioner B.M.A. from al-Qassim, al-Bukayriyah.