Is it permissible for a man to greet or shake hands with a non-mahram woman, knowing that there is no intention in the mind or heart? I hope for guidance on this.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Is it permissible for a man to greet or shake hands with a non-mahram woman, knowing that there is no intention in the mind or heart? I hope for guidance on this.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a non-mahram woman. By non-mahram, we mean one who is not among his mahram relatives. There is no difference between shaking her hand directly or through a barrier, nor between a close relative who is not a mahram and a distant one.
What some people do in the form of ugly customs that prevail among them, such as a man shaking hands with his paternal or maternal cousin or the like, is an abomination that must be forbidden and avoided. The fitnah (trial) in shaking hands may be more severe than the fitnah in looking, so it is obligatory to be cautious of this ugly custom and to forbid it.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for a man to shake hands with a non-mahram woman. By non-mahram, we mean one who is not among his mahram relatives. There is no difference between shaking her hand directly or through a barrier, nor between a close relative who is not a mahram and a distant one.
What some people do in the form of ugly customs that prevail among them, such as a man shaking hands with his paternal or maternal cousin or the like, is an abomination that must be forbidden and avoided. The fitnah (trial) in shaking hands may be more severe than the fitnah in looking, so it is obligatory to be cautious of this ugly custom and to forbid it.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.