The suitor’s looking at the prospective bride and meeting her

Question:
If the husband requests to meet the woman without seclusion, what is the evidence for that? And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Every woman is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered).” I do not know, anyone?

Answer:
There is no harm in this, though it is an awrah (part of the body that must be covered), but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made an exception for what concerns the suitor. If he proposes and wishes to look, there is nothing wrong with it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Let him do so. If he is able to look and does not do so without her knowledge, there is nothing wrong with it. Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) proposed to a woman from the Ansar and had not seen her. He said: The point is that if it is easy for him to see her, even from a distance, or by being present in her family’s house while she passes by and they are pleased with that, or the like of that, there is nothing wrong with it. And if it is possible for her father or her brother to host him at their place and bring her to him so he sees her, and he sees her in the presence of her father or her brother or her mother or the like of that, there is nothing wrong with it. This is a matter the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted.