about the limits of looking at mahrams?
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The student: ...
The Shaykh : This is correct that this differs depending on the likelihood of causing fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). If it is far from reach, a person’s soul may not be attached to it, especially a sane person, because how can a person hope for what is unattainable? This is unlike things that are possible. And so, may Allah know best, it is permissible for mahrams to uncover their faces before a mahram because his soul cannot possibly be attached to them, except for a person—may Allah protect us—who... As for non-mahram men, no, this is part of the wisdom: it is not possible for a person’s soul to be attached to any of his mahrams. And so, it is permissible for them to uncover. But what I said supports the fact that the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) proceeded based on the fear of fitnah, or... And if a person is normal and his heart and feelings are not stirred by what he sees, then prohibiting it and declaring people sinful for it is a matter of difficulty. You know now that images of women are widespread in some fabrics; now there are images of women... on the card, an image of a woman, and also in the newspapers. This is a problem: declaring people sinful for something that a person has not verified is difficult. First, it is not permissible for a person to declare others sinful except for something that he is mostly convinced of or is certain of. As for something he doubts, he should not hold people accountable for it. And there is no doubt that being cautious about this is better, but the issue is not about the priority of caution; the issue is the prohibition. We say: Is it haram (forbidden) for you to look, or is it not haram?
As for if a person is permitted to look at the woman herself, then it is clear that it is permissible for him to look at her image, just as the brother mentioned in the issue of the suitor. If a man wanted to propose to a woman, and instead of going to see her, if there was an image of her, they would show him her image, then there is no harm in that. And even if the image does not actually depict reality exactly, as is observed now, you see images of one person; sometimes the image is distorted, and sometimes the image is better than reality, and sometimes the image matches reality. The truth is that images do not depict reality exactly. Yes.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) only.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, rather this is the point, meaning this is the reason, to block the means to harm. Yes, this is it.
The Shaykh : This is correct that this differs depending on the likelihood of causing fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). If it is far from reach, a person’s soul may not be attached to it, especially a sane person, because how can a person hope for what is unattainable? This is unlike things that are possible. And so, may Allah know best, it is permissible for mahrams to uncover their faces before a mahram because his soul cannot possibly be attached to them, except for a person—may Allah protect us—who... As for non-mahram men, no, this is part of the wisdom: it is not possible for a person’s soul to be attached to any of his mahrams. And so, it is permissible for them to uncover. But what I said supports the fact that the madhhab (school of jurisprudence) proceeded based on the fear of fitnah, or... And if a person is normal and his heart and feelings are not stirred by what he sees, then prohibiting it and declaring people sinful for it is a matter of difficulty. You know now that images of women are widespread in some fabrics; now there are images of women... on the card, an image of a woman, and also in the newspapers. This is a problem: declaring people sinful for something that a person has not verified is difficult. First, it is not permissible for a person to declare others sinful except for something that he is mostly convinced of or is certain of. As for something he doubts, he should not hold people accountable for it. And there is no doubt that being cautious about this is better, but the issue is not about the priority of caution; the issue is the prohibition. We say: Is it haram (forbidden) for you to look, or is it not haram?
As for if a person is permitted to look at the woman herself, then it is clear that it is permissible for him to look at her image, just as the brother mentioned in the issue of the suitor. If a man wanted to propose to a woman, and instead of going to see her, if there was an image of her, they would show him her image, then there is no harm in that. And even if the image does not actually depict reality exactly, as is observed now, you see images of one person; sometimes the image is distorted, and sometimes the image is better than reality, and sometimes the image matches reality. The truth is that images do not depict reality exactly. Yes.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The fear of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) only.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, rather this is the point, meaning this is the reason, to block the means to harm. Yes, this is it.