The Ruling on Shaking Hands with an Elderly Woman
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Is it permissible to shake hands with an elderly woman who is advanced in age?
Answer:
It is not permissible to shake hands with a woman, even if she is advanced in age, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not shake hands with women; rather, he pledged allegiance to them by speech. It is not mentioned that he shook hands with or pledged allegiance to elderly women in the pledges of allegiance. Also, there is fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in it, because if a man shakes hands with a woman who is not among his mahram (a relative one may not marry), that becomes a cause of fitnah between them. Therefore, it is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not among his mahram under any circumstances.
Is it permissible to shake hands with an elderly woman who is advanced in age?
Answer:
It is not permissible to shake hands with a woman, even if she is advanced in age, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not shake hands with women; rather, he pledged allegiance to them by speech. It is not mentioned that he shook hands with or pledged allegiance to elderly women in the pledges of allegiance. Also, there is fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in it, because if a man shakes hands with a woman who is not among his mahram (a relative one may not marry), that becomes a cause of fitnah between them. Therefore, it is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a woman who is not among his mahram under any circumstances.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل تجوز مصافحة المرأة العجوز التي تقدم بها السن؟ الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.