What is your advice for men who sit with women?

Question:
In our society, men sit with women, with their cousins, and with their brothers' wives, and they talk freely and shake hands with one another. When we rebuke them, they say, "This is our custom, and you are being too strict." What is your advice for these people? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
There is no meaning to sitting together in a coffee shop or any other place, but with hijab, covering, and no display of adornment. If they sit, they sit together, the men and the women, their sisters, their wives, and their mothers, sitting together and talking in their gathering or in any place, with covering. This is permissible. But a man must not shake hands with a woman who is not a mahram (a relative one may not marry). He does not shake hands with his brother's wife, nor with his uncle's wife, nor does she uncover herself for him, nor is he alone with her. As for talking together, there is no harm. Everyone sits, there is no blame, they ask, "How are you, so-and-so?" and return the salam, and they ask about needs, or about knowledge, or other things. There is no harm in that. The people used to come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and ask him, and the Prophet provided them with a place to sit, talked to them, and answered their questions, and they prayed with him (peace and blessings be upon him). So there is no harm. But the important thing is to avoid shaking hands with them, as they are not mahrams, such as his brother's wife, his cousin, his neighbor's wife, or his neighbor's daughter. No, like those who sit, but with covering, and keeping away from what Allah has forbidden, such as shaking hands, uncovering, and seclusion. If the sitting is modest, with no seclusion, no shaking hands with a non-mahram woman, and no uncovering, but rather listening to a sermon, or a specific conversation, or an ordinary conversation among them, then there is no harm in that.