What is the ruling on mixing with women and shaking their hands when they are not mahram, and if my neighbor’s wife needs help, should I help her?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Some of the common people, when they are told that mixing or shaking hands with some of their female relatives who are not mahram is wrong, raise a doubt and say: What if my neighbor’s wife is sick, my neighbor is absent, and she has no mahram? Am I to leave her as is, meaning I do not take her to the doctor?
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that mixing with women and shaking their hands when they are not mahram is not permissible, and seclusion is more severe and greater.
But in cases of dire necessity, the rulings differ. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-An'am 6:119] So if my neighbor’s wife is in dire need of me speaking to her and entering her home to take her to the doctor or the like, there is nothing wrong with it, provided there is safety from fitnah. Yes.
The questioner : The recommended practice is the wife, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He seeks help from his wife.
The Shaykh : If he has a wife, he seeks her help until the seclusion is removed. Yes, you are correct.
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that mixing with women and shaking their hands when they are not mahram is not permissible, and seclusion is more severe and greater.
But in cases of dire necessity, the rulings differ. Allah the Exalted said:
while He has explained in detail to you what He has forbidden you, excepting that to which you are compelled
وَقَدْ فَصَّلَ لَكُمْ مَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِلَّا مَا اضْطُرِرْتُمْ إِلَيْهِThe questioner : The recommended practice is the wife, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He seeks help from his wife.
The Shaykh : If he has a wife, he seeks her help until the seclusion is removed. Yes, you are correct.