Permissibility of looking at a prospective bride without her knowledge
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
A letter from Riyadh, sent by one of the female listeners, says: The questioner (W. M. K.) has a number of questions, one of which is: I have a brother who wants to marry a specific woman. He is a young man whom we are concerned about, but he asked us, his sisters, to enable him to see her without her knowledge; the condition being that this does not violate the ruling of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so that he does not face difficulty, or she does not, if his opinion is that he will not marry her. What is the ruling here? And what is the way to do that? Knowing that we—praise be to Allah—are careful to apply what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is pleased with.
Answer:
There is no blame on you in that: you should strive to enable him to see her without seclusion, for example, one of you invites her, and then he looks at her from a door, a gap, or something else, while she is with you. There is no blame in that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) granted the Companions a dispensation to look at a prospective bride. Jabir, when he wanted to marry a woman, used to hide himself to look at her.
So the point is: if the looking is without seclusion, then there is no blame in that, if he intends to propose to her. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. Is it only on the condition that he intends to propose?
Answer: Yes, it is necessary that he intends to, otherwise it is not permissible.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
A letter from Riyadh, sent by one of the female listeners, says: The questioner (W. M. K.) has a number of questions, one of which is: I have a brother who wants to marry a specific woman. He is a young man whom we are concerned about, but he asked us, his sisters, to enable him to see her without her knowledge; the condition being that this does not violate the ruling of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so that he does not face difficulty, or she does not, if his opinion is that he will not marry her. What is the ruling here? And what is the way to do that? Knowing that we—praise be to Allah—are careful to apply what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is pleased with.
Answer:
There is no blame on you in that: you should strive to enable him to see her without seclusion, for example, one of you invites her, and then he looks at her from a door, a gap, or something else, while she is with you. There is no blame in that. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) granted the Companions a dispensation to look at a prospective bride. Jabir, when he wanted to marry a woman, used to hide himself to look at her.
So the point is: if the looking is without seclusion, then there is no blame in that, if he intends to propose to her. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. Is it only on the condition that he intends to propose?
Answer: Yes, it is necessary that he intends to, otherwise it is not permissible.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.