What is your opinion on a young man talking to a foreign woman, with the legal evidence, as happens in the university and elsewhere?

The Shaykh : The questioner says here: What is your opinion on a young man talking to a foreign woman, with the legal evidence, as happens in the university and elsewhere?
There is no doubt that this question relates to the reality of youth who are afflicted by their studies in the universities. And we say that it is recommended, before we proceed to answer this question, that we remind people of the ruling of the Shari'ah regarding these mixed studies of the two sexes. After that, it will be easy to understand the answer to that question. Or perhaps it would have been better to say: I thought the questioner would ask about what I want to research; is it permissible for young men and young women to participate in university studies? If one knows the answer to this question, one takes the answer to that question naturally. So I want to say:
There is no mixed study of the two sexes in Islam. Rather, Islam is keen on separating the two sexes in the most sacred places, which are places where the mind cannot imagine a place where Satan could be further away from than those places; namely, the mosques. Perhaps you all know the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when he was asked about the best and worst places? So Jibril (peace be upon him) came down in the answer saying: .
These places, which are the best places as you heard, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) legislated in them the separation between the two sexes. And I will mention to you some examples of what is known in part and unknown in part. If you know this reality, that the Wise Lawgiver distanced the two sexes in the purest places, then it is all the more so that He distances between them, I do not say in the markets, but rather in what may be like the markets, or better than the markets, or worse than the markets; Allah knows best what is there.
If we know that the Wise Lawgiver distanced the two sexes in the most sacred of places, namely the mosques, we know the ruling of this mixing. So what is this distancing that we referred to and said: some people know something of it, or others do not know the other thing?
We all know that it is not permissible for a woman to line up with the men while she prays to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and he is also praying to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Both the man and the woman are standing before Allah, worshipping Him, fearing Him and being afraid of Him. Despite that, it is not permissible for one of them to stand side by side with the other. This is known, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) confirmed that in the urging to distance oneself by saying: . So this hadith gives us another distancing greater than the first. The first is that it is not permissible for a woman to enter the row of men, nor for a man to enter the row of women. But the previous hadith explains to us another distancing that is higher and nobler than the first, which is that the row that women line up in, the preference in these rows is the opposite of the preference in the rows of men. So the best of the rows for a man is the first, and the worst is the last. As for the rows of women, the first is the worst and the last is the best.
And the meaning is: that a woman must distance herself from the men, not standing in the last row in the first row that follows the last row of the men, but making between her and the last row of the men other rows. Whoever among the women is keen to follow the Sunnah and the Shari'ah, she does not line up in the first row of the women's rows, but she delays there where there is no row after that. It is very clear to the point that the matter does not need explanation that the purpose of that is to achieve a general meaning. But you see in these hadiths and others that this general spoken meaning is a legal meaning; "Distance yourself from evil and sing to it," the layman says. So distance yourself from the rows of men, even if you are in one of the houses of Allah, even if you are standing before Allah, and pray in the last rows of the women. The best of the rows of women is the last, and the worst is the first; why? To distance the mixing between women and men as far as possible in the difference.
And perhaps it is useful to remind you of a story that occurred in the noblest of centuries, the purest and the most pure, which is the century of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his era and time. If you know that, it will be easy for you to connect the previous hadith to this point that we are singing about; namely, distancing women from men as much as possible.
It came down in the Noble Qur'an His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . This verse came down regarding a man who intentionally prayed in the last row of the men's rows, and a woman who was praying in the first row of the women's rows. And this man had his eye fall upon this woman, so he was captivated with love for her. So in order to get a look at her, he delayed and prayed in the other row. And how would he look at her while he was praying? So Satan would whisper to him, and when he prostrated, he would look under his armpit like this, looking at her while he was praying. This means that Satan, as he said in the Qur'an, is a clear enemy to man, and that Satan has no function in this world except to tempt his enemy, man, in every means that becomes available to him; even while he is standing before his Lord (Mighty and Majestic). Therefore, he would inspire him to intentionally pray in the other row, and inspire that woman to intentionally pray in the first row of the women's rows, enabling one of them to look at the other by this means. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) revealed that verse, educating and disciplining that nothing is hidden from Him on earth or in the sky. So He said (Mighty and Majestic): . Those who advance the rows out of eagerness to gain the reward of the first row, and those who intentionally pray in the last row out of eagerness to get a look at that one he was captivated with love for.
And I say: perhaps the Messenger (peace be upon him) said that hadith on such an occasion: , and the opposite is the opposite as you heard.
This difference and distancing is from those distancings that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) legislated in the most sacred of lands and places, namely the mosques.
Then look at another means that the Messenger (peace be upon him) legislated for people, also for distancing, to prevent fitnah and corruption between the two sexes. It came in "Sahih al-Bukhari" that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he would say the taslim from the prayer, would sit in the mosques and not move. And in some hadiths, his sitting was for the amount of time it takes to say: after seeking forgiveness from Allah three times, a brief seeking of forgiveness; , and he would say after that: .
He would stay this amount of time. The narrator said, and the scholars of hadith differed on it: is it the first narrator, and it is Umm Salama, or some of the lower narrators, and it is al-Zuhri? Whichever it is, they said: We used to think that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) only stayed that stay after the obligatory prayer until the women would leave before the men. Because the nature of most people is that when the imam says the taslim and exits from his prayer, they disperse. And few of them are those who stay to pray, reading the known adhkar and invocations. As came in the hadith of Dhu al-Yadayn, which was extracted in "the two Sahihs," and that was when the Messenger (peace be upon him) erred in the 'Asr prayer and prayed it two rak'ahs. And he had barely said the taslim—and here is the point—when he said: until the people quickly exited.
The people quickly, a group hurrying, they did not run out of the mosque. One of the slow ones, who is known by the nickname Dhu al-Yadayn, said: O Messenger of Allah, did the prayer become short, or did you forget? He said: . He said: Yes. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) looked at his companions saying: . They said: Yes, you prayed two rak'ahs. And the Messenger had left the place of prayer, and I do not say: the mihrab; because there was no mihrab in the mosque. So he returned to it and prayed two rak'ahs, and his prayer was completed.
The point is that the custom of the majority of people is that when the imam says the closing salam, they rush out. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to teach and discipline these people practically; when he finished his prayer, he would stay for a short while before going to his house. Why? So that the men and women would not stand up together and mix with each other on the way as they were leaving the best of Allah’s lands (Mighty and Majestic).
By such means, and in the most sacred of places as we mentioned, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) kept the women and men apart. All of this falls under the category, or the principle, of the great principles of the Shari'ah, which is the principle of blocking the means to harm. So, by way of blocking the means to harm, the Messenger (peace be upon him) employed these means to keep Satan from being able to whisper to the children of Adam.
And he (peace be upon him) said, on a very important occasion closely related to the root of that question: . When did he say this kind word? He (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) was standing with his wife Safiyyah when two men from the Ansar, from among the Companions, passed by him or by them. When their eyes fell upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) and the woman beside him, they hurried their pace; they ran, out of modesty from both of them. So he (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) said to them: ; go at your own pace, walk as you were walking, . They said: O Messenger of Allah, if we were to doubt anyone, we would not doubt you. He (peace be upon him) said: .
That is, the Messenger (peace be upon him) here is referring to the two Ansar Companions; that it is true that you do not doubt my purity, the righteousness of my soul, and my protection from speaking with a foreign woman with whom I have no marital connection. But Satan may come and whisper to you, and thereby your deeds will be ruined and you will be among the losers in the Hereafter. Therefore, he (peace be upon him) said: .
If we know these facts, then we believe that if the desired Islamic society existed, it would not be possible for there to be institutes, schools, or universities where the two sexes live together with each other; because their gathering in such societies contradicts all those legislations that came in Islam, and we have mentioned to you some examples and models of them.
So if that is the case, the answer to that question is obvious; if it is not permissible by the Shari'ah for men and women to gather in the mosque unless some of them are completely far from the others, then it is even more so that the matter should be the same in places other than mosques, such as universities. And it is even more so, and more preferable, that it is not permissible for a young man to stand with a Muslim girl and talk to her; because this sitting and this standing is among the strongest causes for Satan to enter between them.
We are often asked another question similar to this one: Is it permissible by the Shari'ah for the wives of brothers who love each other for the sake of Allah, who are sincere and advise each other, for the wives and husbands to be sitting in one place or at one table, for example? Is this permissible?
I say that this is from the category of permissibility; it is permissible, but conditional on a condition that is not realized in reality. It is permissible if we imagine that all those present, men and women, adhere to modesty and proper conduct, and in a limited opportunity, either food or drink or a family gathering or something similar. That is not to be made a habit and a way of life, and life cannot be lived in this form. No, sometimes. With that, I say: at this time, such a gathering is permissible if the conditions are met. And it is difficult, especially in a society like ours, which with every day that passes moves further from Islam by years. These conditions are that each of the men and women adheres to modesty and proper conduct, so that none of the men or women present speaks, for example, a joking word, causing a smile to appear here and a laugh there. From there, Satan creeps into the human soul. Therefore, as long as this is difficult to achieve, and in such an occasional, sudden gathering, it is preferable that such a gathering does not take place. Why? Because Satan runs through the son of Adam, or through the human being, like blood.
Therefore, I say, as I said at the beginning or at the start of my answering: whoever among the youth is afflicted with entering a university to study something, he must be far from establishing any connection with any girl, even if she is from the girls who wear the hijab, even if this hijab is not as it should be. But with that, I say to you, some evil is less than some. And do not be deceived by the woman who wears the hijab and say that she is a believing, Muslim sister; this is also one of Satan’s traps for the children of Adam. Because if she is wearing the hijab, it does not mean that she has become a nun. And even if she became a nun, it does not mean that she has become inanimate; meaning, she has not ceased to be a human being with feelings, desires, and wants. But the righteous woman strives, but this striving is completed by staying away from the path by which Satan enters the children of Adam.
If we remember the story of the Messenger (peace be upon him) with the two men while he was standing with Safiyyah, and we note that Satan enters and moves in the blood of the human being, what would this young man be if he stood with a girl, even if they were, for example, walking in the university courtyard? But there is no one close to them, completely adjacent to them, so that no word comes from him or from her. It means the space for Satan to enter between the Muslim young man, so he claims, and the Muslim young woman, so she claims, exists in every occasion. Therefore, the happy one and the true believer is the one who stays away from all the means that may entangle him and may throw him on his head one day.
For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade seclusion with a non-mahram; because it is a very great means for a person to enter and fulfill his need from the children of Adam. So he (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) said: . It is not said: this hadith forbade seclusion, so what is not seclusion has nothing in it. We say: prohibitions have degrees, and the forbidden things in the Shari'ah are the same. If there is no seclusion, they say, for example, what is seclusion? It is that a person enters with a foreign woman in a place and they close the door; this is seclusion, and this is forbidden. But if the door is open, it is not seclusion; this is correct speech. But this does not mean that if he sits in a room and the door is open, that Satan does not enter between them. But his entry there when the door is closed is stronger for him and much happier for him. For this reason, this hadith, at the time it forbids seclusion, warns the sensible Muslim person that it is not permissible for him to stand in a position of suspicion, doubt, or a doubtful matter.
And perhaps this extent is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.