What is permissible for a suitor to see of his prospective bride.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : My master, your opinion on the ruling regarding looking at a prospective bride appeared in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah*, and perhaps specialists have seen it, but if one wishes to clarify this ruling for the general public, what should be said?The Shaykh : What should be said to clarify this ruling for the general public?

The Shaykh : I will answer this question before clarifying or recalling what is in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah*, because I believe there may be something in it that has undergone some modification. So I will give a general answer, and then we will see if this general answer requires us to add anything else. As a legal ruling, I see no difference between the general public and specialists; because those who want to marry are not only from the specialists, but people are equal in this matter, equal as the teeth of a comb, as it is said. And as it is said in the weak hadith, if that is the case, then every Muslim must know this legal ruling so that he can proceed on its basis and in its light; so he does not find any difficulty in dealing with it as long as he finds therein ease and leniency in the religion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The matter is not one of the theoretical or intellectual issues in which people’s intellectual and scientific capacities must be considered, so we do not inform people, all people, of what they do not understand. The matter is not of this kind or of this sort, but rather it is a practical legal ruling that every Muslim must know without exception, whether he is cultured or not, righteous or not; because all of these people should marry. So if the Lawgiver gives them a general ruling, then the one who wants to guide people to good and teach them good does not distinguish between the general public and specialists in such a matter. This is my answer as a general answer. Now I return to ask: do you recall what came in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah*? Please proceed.

The questioner : You mentioned, our Shaykh, in authenticating the hadith, the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):

The Shaykh : Yes, please proceed.

The questioner : And I followed up, meaning deriving from this hadith the legal ruling that it is permissible for the suitor to see the woman’s hair, and it is permissible for him to see from her...?

The Shaykh : Meaning it is permissible for him to see from her more than her face and hands, yes. Well, do you remember more than that?

The questioner : This is what I remember now.

The Shaykh : This is what you remember, and I still adhere to it.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And it is not permissible for us to do anything other than issue a fatwa based on it, otherwise we would nullify the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) due to sectarian bias that takes hold of some people. And these people, unfortunately, are usually more influenced by the sayings of the non-infallible than they are by the sayings of the infallible Prophet. And this is a distortion of the truth that it is not permissible for a Muslim to be involved in. So my previous answer remains valid.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : But there is no harm in drawing attention to something that may be useful to publish on this occasion. I had mentioned there, or in another place, and perhaps Brother Ali can help us with his memory of that place. I had mentioned there a story concerning 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and the daughter of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib named Umm Kulthum. He proposed to her from 'Ali and mentioned that he was not proposing to her because he needed to marry, but rather to be close to the Messenger (peace be upon him). So he agreed with her father, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, that he would send her to him, and if he was pleased with her, he would marry her, otherwise not. So 'Ali sent her to him, and he uncovered her leg, and she said to him: "If you were not the Commander of the Faithful, I would have slapped your cheek." I had mentioned this story as a supporting argument or evidence that the seeing or looking mentioned in that hadith and in other hadiths, I had mentioned it on that occasion, was not intended only for looking at the face and hands, but for more than that, as evidenced by this story. I narrated this story at that time from the book of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, the right side from here...

The Shaykh : The hadith or to this report. So this report I took from the book of Ibn Hajar, and he had attributed it to 'Abd al-Razzaq, and he had remained silent on it. The rule regarding al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, given his deep knowledge in this science, is that he authenticates what he remains silent on from the narrations. So we proceeded on this trust. Then, after the book of 'Abd al-Razzaq, *al-Musannaf*, from which he took this story, was printed, when we returned to the original and drew from it, we were satisfied with that, as it is said, "we stopped at the spring." We came upon the chain of narration that was not in our hands at that time, when we took it from *al-Fath*. It became clear to me that the chain in it is broken, and perhaps there is something else in it that does not come to my mind now. The important thing is that it became established for me that the story is not authentic, and that it is not permissible for us to mention it thereafter except with an explanation of its weakness. And perhaps I did that in some place.
Al-Halabi : In *al-Da'if*, the third volume.

The Shaykh : In *al-Da'if*, the third volume. This is what I reserved in my first answer. Is that clear?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Okay

The questioner : Yes, our Shaykh, did you reach a conclusion at some point that it is permissible for the suitor to see of the prospective bride her hair, half of her forearm, and half of her leg? Did you stop speaking about this at some point?

The Shaykh : This is what we are discussing now. We stopped regarding two things here. One is what was mentioned earlier, which is this narration concerning Umm Kulthum. Is that clear?

The questioner : Because of its inauthenticity.

The Shaykh : Its inauthenticity. The second thing is that it is not permissible to intentionally appear before him like this with more than her face and hands; rather, that should be from her side without her knowledge.

The questioner : ... our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : What did you record just now? I will say regarding the previous question: the mentioned story concerning 'Umar ibn al-Khattab uncovering his prospective bride Umm Kulthum, his uncovering of her leg. It became clear to me after we came upon its chain of narration in the source to which al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar... referred, which is *al-Musannaf* of 'Abd al-Razzaq, that the chain is weak and broken, and it does not constitute a proof. And it followed from that that we should stop at those hadiths that I had mentioned some of in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah* and in the volume referred to earlier, which indicate that the suitor is allowed to look at the one he intends to propose to, to look at what is usually visible from her, even if she is in her home, but that is without her knowledge, without her knowledge. As for the suitor agreeing with his prospective bride, even in the presence of her mahrams, to see from her what is not permissible for a non-mahram to see from her, this is something for which we do not know of any evidence except the previous story, and it has become clear to us that it is weak, and we have turned away from it.