How should a man act if he suspects a woman of committing the sin of unlawful sexual intercourse? Is it permissible for him to inform her husband?

The questioner : And by Allah, I am a teacher. A problem occurred recently in our neighborhood. One of the men, who is even accustomed to praying the Fajr prayer, was staying temporarily in the area. He suspected, or let us say he saw, one of the women enter a shop. He was naturally heading to that same shop, and he found the shop closed. He knocked on the door, which was glass with a curtain. The shopkeeper said, "I am doing an inventory, so come back later." I think the shopkeeper was Egyptian, so he said in an Egyptian dialect, "We are doing an inventory, come back in an hour." So he stayed sitting at the shop door with another man. After about an hour, the door was opened, and they found the woman with some items, as if she was buying things from him. He started telling her, "Do you not have shame? Do you not feel embarrassed?" Her answer was also rude: "It is none of your business." She picked up her things and left. He got into a verbal altercation with the shopkeeper. He tried to find out who this woman was in the neighborhood and managed to find out. He asked to meet her husband and even found out that she was married. He asked to meet her husband and stood in front of the door asking, "Is the man who owns the house here?" He asked one of the sons, and they said, "He is coming." He actually arrived by car. They said, "By Allah, we need you for a private matter. If you please, meet us at so-and-so's house." During this time, a kind of confrontation occurred. The woman, as if she suspected something, came down and started screaming at her husband, "Do not listen to these people. These are thieves who want to rob the house." A problem arose, and they came to us, as if seeking the father's help. We tried to explain their situation, and the husband started complaining about the group, accusing them of falsely accusing a chaste woman.

The Shaykh : They are accusing

The questioner : They are accusing and falsely accusing a chaste woman. So my brother Abdullah and the father advised this man not to be categorical, because he was categorical that they had done something. We said, "It is not permissible for you to be categorical until we mitigate the matter, because the matter has become serious." We told the man, "You know your wife and your family best, so let us mitigate the matter as much as possible." The man who had complained or suspected and caused the commotion was convinced by us that he had to soften his words because the matter had become somewhat serious. He started to back down little by little, but he kept bringing it up. Every time he backed down, it was as if he was reviewing his mind and wanted to return and say, "My brother, but I saw something." It was as if he wanted to reopen the matter again. We tried to remain silent until he asked for advice and said, "What should I do if I see something like this? Should I not tell her husband? Should I not tell anyone?" We advised him to follow the advice, which is to be calm, and there is no need for him to say more than that. Or what is required of a person who suspects a suspicion like this, where the likelihood is that something actually happened? Should he not care and go to the husband and tell him everything he saw, without fearing that a problem will arise? A problem could indeed arise, involving blood and killing, especially since they are from families in the area. What is your opinion on a matter like this? If one of us suspected and saw what our brother saw?

The Shaykh : In my opinion, attempting to combine bringing about benefit and repelling harm, I see it as a benefit that it is not permissible to conceal what that observer saw, who closed the shop in his face after he saw the woman enter it. I do not see it as in the husband's interest to conceal from him what that man saw. But to repel the harm that I mentioned, he should not inform him personally, face to face, to repel the harm. Rather, he should write a warning and caution that this woman might get involved and fall into the sin of unlawful sexual intercourse, because I saw her enter so-and-so's shop, and I was coming to it, and she closed the door and waited until after a quarter of an hour or half an hour, according to what he claims, until she came out. Of course, from the Shari'ah perspective, he cannot falsely accuse her, and it is not permissible for him to accuse her of her honor, because you know the Shari'ah ruling that it is not established except by four witnesses and by clear, obvious, evident proof. Here, there is nothing except from behind a wall. It may have happened, and it may not have happened. So he narrates the thing he saw and does not say there was unlawful sexual intercourse. But he is content with narrating what he saw. And that is not directly, because it is a corrupt time today where the innocent are accused and the accused are exonerated. This is what I see, meaning combining benefit and repelling harm. The principle is that Muslims should fast.