My brother is married to a woman from the village. If I want to travel or return from a trip, is it permissible for me to shake her hand? He means shaking the hand of his brother’s wife, or meeting her.
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The questioner : My brother is married to a woman from the village. If I want to travel or return from a trip, is it permissible for me to shake her hand? He means shaking the hand of his brother’s wife, or meeting her. Please advise us. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. I say in answer to this question: If your brother’s wife is a mahram (a relative one may not marry) to you by milk kinship or blood relation, then there is no blame on you in meeting her and greeting her, because a mahram is permitted to look at what usually appears of his mahram’s body.
As for the case where this wife is your brother's wife and is not a mahram (a relative one may not marry) to you by lineage or breastfeeding, it is not permissible for you to shake her hand or look at her face, except if you shake her hand through a barrier, such as if she placed something on her hand that prevents your skin from touching her skin; in that case, there is nothing wrong with it. It is also necessary that this be done without seclusion, for it is not permissible for you to be alone with your brother's wife if she is not among your mahrams, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade seclusion. He said in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, which is established in "al-Sahihayn", while he was addressing the people:Sahih Muslim 1341a He said: By this, it is meant that you must be cautious of it and flee from seclusion with her as you would flee from death.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is evidence that it is not permissible for anyone to be alone with a woman, even if she is the wife of one of his relatives. This is actually a social problem, because many people have a wife and have a brother in the house, and there is no mother or sisters to be with his brother’s wife. In this case, if there is no one in the house except his brother’s wife, it is not permissible for him to be alone with her in the house when his brother goes out to work or travels. Rather, we say that in this case, the solution is by one of two ways:
Either the brother takes his wife to her family’s home while he is away from the house, and when he returns to the house, he brings her back from her family with him.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Or the house is divided into two sections:
For example, the coffee section and its amenities are where the brother is when his brother is absent, meaning when he is not in the house. A securely locked door is placed between this section and the second section, which is the women’s section, and the key is kept with the woman’s husband. When the woman’s husband goes out, this door is locked so that his brother does not enter upon his wife, and she does not enter upon his brother.
If someone says, for example, that this may not be effective because the woman might go out through the market door and enter upon his brother from the other side, we say: This is unlikely, and it is not possible to be cautious of it in any way. Even if the woman goes to her family’s home, she might come to the house and contact his brother, but this is a very remote possibility, because a brother is unlikely to betray his brother, even if his brother is cautious of him. And when a person does the lawful causes that keep away the prohibited, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) helps him and keeps the prohibited away from him.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He has another question from the listener al-Thubayti from the Al-Ula region.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. I say in answer to this question: If your brother’s wife is a mahram (a relative one may not marry) to you by milk kinship or blood relation, then there is no blame on you in meeting her and greeting her, because a mahram is permitted to look at what usually appears of his mahram’s body.
As for the case where this wife is your brother's wife and is not a mahram (a relative one may not marry) to you by lineage or breastfeeding, it is not permissible for you to shake her hand or look at her face, except if you shake her hand through a barrier, such as if she placed something on her hand that prevents your skin from touching her skin; in that case, there is nothing wrong with it. It is also necessary that this be done without seclusion, for it is not permissible for you to be alone with your brother's wife if she is not among your mahrams, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade seclusion. He said in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, which is established in "al-Sahihayn", while he was addressing the people:
No person should be alone with a woman
لا يخلون رجل بامرأةThe relative is death
الحمو الموتThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is evidence that it is not permissible for anyone to be alone with a woman, even if she is the wife of one of his relatives. This is actually a social problem, because many people have a wife and have a brother in the house, and there is no mother or sisters to be with his brother’s wife. In this case, if there is no one in the house except his brother’s wife, it is not permissible for him to be alone with her in the house when his brother goes out to work or travels. Rather, we say that in this case, the solution is by one of two ways:
Either the brother takes his wife to her family’s home while he is away from the house, and when he returns to the house, he brings her back from her family with him.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Or the house is divided into two sections:
For example, the coffee section and its amenities are where the brother is when his brother is absent, meaning when he is not in the house. A securely locked door is placed between this section and the second section, which is the women’s section, and the key is kept with the woman’s husband. When the woman’s husband goes out, this door is locked so that his brother does not enter upon his wife, and she does not enter upon his brother.
If someone says, for example, that this may not be effective because the woman might go out through the market door and enter upon his brother from the other side, we say: This is unlikely, and it is not possible to be cautious of it in any way. Even if the woman goes to her family’s home, she might come to the house and contact his brother, but this is a very remote possibility, because a brother is unlikely to betray his brother, even if his brother is cautious of him. And when a person does the lawful causes that keep away the prohibited, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) helps him and keeps the prohibited away from him.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He has another question from the listener al-Thubayti from the Al-Ula region.