Clarification of the issue of a woman who has been proposed to visiting her suitor while she is adorned.

The Shaykh : And here, I noticed or remembered that regarding the woman who is being proposed to, if we say that what people do today is permissible, namely that she comes to the man intentionally and by choice, is it permissible for her to adorn herself or beautify herself? To adorn herself with beautiful clothes or to beautify her body? The answer is no, meaning it is not permissible for her to come in beautiful clothes, nor is it permissible for her to come adorned with kohl, makeup, or anything else. Why? Because she is not his wife now; she is a foreign woman, brothers, a foreign woman to him. And there is also a harm other than this. If she comes adorned with this beauty, and then after the contract and entering upon her, she is not in that state, meaning she did not come adorned or beautified as she was at the proposal, what happens? His mind will experience what is called a reaction. He will say, "Glory be to Allah, where is the woman who was like the moon on the day I proposed to her, and now she has become like the star al-Suhah?" Yes, that is correct. So perhaps a reaction will occur because of this, and we elevate this to a harm. It is like the man coming to the women in the gathering, the wedding gathering, and they are uncovered. So this, in addition to being forbidden, contains danger and harm to the woman herself, because among those present there may be someone much more beautiful than his wife. And at that time, his spirit will shrink, and his joy in this marriage will become sorrow, because he will look down upon his wife compared to those women he looked at. And this is a great prohibition. Yes, that is right.

The questioner : Regarding the woman going ... to the man.

The Shaykh : What?

The questioner : The woman going ... to the man. Evidence is cited for this, O Shaykh ... Ali ibn Abi Talib when he sent his daughter to 'Umar ibn al-Khattab.