Is it permissible for a woman to greet men without shaking hands?

The questioner : Is it permissible for a woman to greet men without shaking hands?

The Shaykh : The issue is ... among the jurists, and the stronger position—may Allah know best—is that it is not permissible for a young woman to greet a young man or men. However, if the woman is an elderly old woman, and she greets in a situation where it is not likely that any fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) will result from her greeting, then there is nothing wrong with her greeting. The reverse is also the case; that is, there is nothing wrong for a man to greet an old woman who is not desired. As for anything other than this condition, we do not know from the Sunnah that the righteous Salaf (the earliest generations) used to pass by women and greet them in this manner without any of the distinctions we mentioned earlier. Not greeting a young woman or a young man is a matter of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm), which is an important principle in the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) that must be attended to and relied upon in answering many issues like this one. This principle is indicated by many texts of the Shari'ah, both in the Book and the Sunnah. Among the clearest and most explicit of these is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is the text of the hadith in "al-Sahihayn" (the two authentic collections), and in a narration in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" (the Musnad of Imam Ahmad) . However, in the chain of this narration is Abdullah ibn Lahi'ah al-Qadi. Although he was a noble man who was judged by the Shari'ah, his memory for hadith deteriorated. Therefore, the hadith scholars do not cite what he narrated alone, let alone what he narrated in contradiction to the trustworthy memorizers. ... His narration is as if it is a narration by meaning; because the "batsh" (grasping) that comes to mind for us today is ... and it does not appear that this is what is intended here. . Rather, the intended meaning is "lams" (touching), as it came in the narration of Ibn Lahi'ah. Then he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . This hadith explains two types of prohibition: the first type is what is prohibited for the sake of something else, and the second type is ... what is prohibited in itself, which is zina (unlawful sexual intercourse). What comes before that is, as we said, a matter of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm), which is the prohibition of adopting means that may lead to falling into what is prohibited in itself. This research has, as I indicated, many proofs. From this hadith and others like it, Shawqi, the poet of Egypt, took his wise saying:
"A glance, then a smile, then a greeting—this is the point here—then a greeting, then an appointment, then a meeting."
"And the first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down."
Therefore, one should avoid the means that may lead to prohibitions.

The questioner : The questioner:The questioner : He says: I want to call my brother, or a friend, by telephone. So his sister, for example, picks up, and he says: Is it permissible for me to say: "As-salamu alaykum" (Peace be upon you), and she says: "Wa alaykum as-salam" (And upon you peace), is so-and-so there? No, he is not there. If he comes, tell him that so-and-so called you?

The Shaykh : Here, since it is necessary to speak, it is all the more necessary to greet, because the original rule is that a man should not speak to a woman out of fear of what we mentioned regarding sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm). And if it is necessary to speak, then in Islam, speaking is not permissible except after a greeting. And if it is feared that the man will speak with the woman in clean, ordinary words, and there is no fear that anything will result from this due to the vast distance between the speaking man and the woman he is speaking with, if there is no fear from this speech, then it is all the more true that there is no fear from giving a greeting. Therefore, I consider the reverse to be the case as well; that is, if a woman calls her sister or a friend by telephone, and a man answers, so she asks about her friend or sister or whatever, if it is necessary for her to speak with the man, let her precede that speech with a greeting, because it came in some authentic hadiths: . This ruling is, without doubt, originally directed at men. But since the subject is a telephone call where there is no fear that a legal harm will result, and he or she must speak, let the first thing she or he says be: "As-salamu alaykum" (Peace be upon you).

The questioner : A question on the same subject: for example, if a man and his wife are in the house, and the telephone rings, does it mean that it is permissible for the woman to pick up the telephone, or must the husband be the one to pick up the telephone? It might be a man calling?

The Shaykh : Is the man a monster?! The issue is only a matter of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm). So if there is no fear from the means, then at that time, begin with a greeting, then with the necessary speech.