Is it permissible for women to greet men on the streets, and vice versa?

The questioner : A question about spreading the greeting: Is spreading the greeting restricted to men only, or does it apply to both men and women?
In its generality?

The Shaykh : I think you mean by your question that men greet women.

The questioner : Yes, and the reverse.

The Shaykh : And that women greet some of them to men, and you do not mean in your question, of course, that women greet each other. So, among what you mean is that if a Muslim young man passes by a Muslim young woman, he says to her, “Peace be upon you,” and the best of the two is the one who initiates the greeting to the other. So if she meets a young man, she initiates the greeting to him before the young man does, and it becomes a race... This is part of the content of the question, of course. So I say that before I say whether it is permissible or not, I must mention a very important rule by which a student of knowledge can understand the religion. This rule is that the general texts that came in the Sunnah should be applied in the manner in which that hadith was applied in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and we should not take a new meaning from the hadith that the practice of the earliest Salaf did not follow. I give you an example from my habit of mentioning it to some of my brothers on such an occasion. All the praying people whom Allah has blessed by enabling them to perform their obligatory duties in the mosques of the Muslims, when they come to the mosque, one of them enters and prays the pre-prayer sunnah alone, and you find the mosque has dozens of Muslims, one here and one there, this one bows, this one stands up, and so on, meaning they pray individually, not in congregation. So if one of these people said to the group, “Come, let us pray in congregation, it is better than praying separately. Come, let us pray in congregation,” and he said, “He (peace be upon him) said: This is an authentic hadith. In fact, he said something more explicit than that on such an occasion, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): And the prayer of three is more pure than the prayer of two, and so on. The more the number, the more the reward. So if a person argued for what he intended from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the answer is no. This rule covers hundreds of issues, and it is that any text that contains many parts, some of which are taken from the generality of the text, if the practice of the Salaf did not follow them, it is not permissible to act upon them, and that is innovation in the religion. And due to the negligence of the majority of Muslims in the later centuries regarding this important rule, they introduced into the religion innovations by which they lost many of the Sunnahs, in accordance with the saying of some of the Salaf: “No innovation is introduced except that a Sunnah is killed.” So any person among you, whether he is convinced by the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): ... Innovation is divided into five categories. Whether any one of the people present now says that the hadith is in its generality, or that it is a general text with a specific exception, he brings any innovation he sees as an innovation, and I bring him an argument from a general proof. Every innovation that exists today, except for a rare few, has a general proof. So why do we deny these innovations? Because the Salaf did not act upon those innovations. And that means the Salaf did not understand that these details, which we understand to be included in the general text, were included in the general text. The Salaf did not understand that they were included in the general text, so they did not act upon this part. For example, praying the Sunnah prayers in congregation. For example, young men greeting young women. So as long as the practice did not follow this, it is not permissible for us to act upon it. Therefore, the scholars said that it is not permissible to greet a young woman, but only if she is an old woman, a grandmother, and it is better if she is a bald old woman. So then, one greets her. Why? Because the abstention of the Salaf from greeting women in general, including young women, is from the category of blocking the means to harm. And like what the poet of ancient Egypt said:
“A glance, then a smile, then a greeting, then conversation, then an appointment, then a meeting.”
So from the category of blocking the means to harm, the Wise Lawgiver cut off the root of temptation. So He did not permit a young man to greet a young woman, and vice versa. I hope I have answered your question.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Welcome, Abu Latifi.

The questioner : When a man comes to the house of his Muslim brother and knocks on the door of a Muslim’s house, and you knock on the door and the wife asks who is at the door, and he says to her, “Peace be upon you, I am so-and-so,” is this also prescribed?

The Shaykh : This is prescribed because there is no fitnah in this.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.