Traveling by Airplane

Question: Is it permissible for a woman to travel alone by airplane in our present day, given that the conditions for safety from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) are met because there is someone to take her to the airport and receive her at the other airport, and given that the farthest distance the airplane covers is only a few hours, meaning that continuous flight may not last even one or two days?

Answer: It is not permissible for a woman to travel except with a mahram (a relative one may not marry), whether by airplane, by car, or by mount.Due to the generality of his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: .
This is a general text for every time and place, and for all circumstances. So long as she is to travel, she must have a mahram, in accordance with the noble hadith.As for her saying: As for her saying that fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) is secured against in the airplane, this is not sound, because the airplane is subject to matters that may prevent it from proceeding, and it may land at an airport other than the intended one due to a malfunction. Therefore, the woman needs a mahram to be with her, to take charge of her affairs and protect her.
Furthermore, it is well known that seats in an airplane are distributed, and a man
who is a stranger to her, not a mahram, may sit next to her. She is unable to sit in a seat exclusively for herself where no one else sits with her. This is not permissible.

In conclusion: It may be that the state of the airplane makes the need for a mahram greater than in other modes of transport, due to the contingencies it faces, the mixing that occurs within it, and the need for a mahram that arises from the length of the distance and the journey. It is not sufficient for her mahram to take her to the airport and for another mahram to receive her at the other airport. Who can assure us that this airplane will continue from the airport it departed to the airport it is destined for?

Question: If the Prophet’s statement in the hadith: does the intended meaning not restrict itself to the time, but to the 'illah (the operative cause of a ruling) of the ruling?

Answer: The Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) statement is general: This is considered in terms of walking on foot and the movement of loads, whether the distance is covered in a long period or a short one. It is not measured by time, but by distance. As for time, it varies according to the means of transport; it may be covered in an hour, or in days, or in a month or months. No ruling is attached to this, meaning that the length of the journey, or the duration of the journey, whether long or short, has no ruling attached to it. Rather, this is attached to the distance.