Is it permissible for a woman to travel without a mahram if the trip is only for a few hours?

Question:
This is a questioner for the program inquiring about the validity of the hadith, Your Eminence. She says: "a journey of a day and a night." Can a woman travel alone, as long as the night has not begun for her, given the condition in the hadith, or is her traveling alone absolutely prohibited? And what is the ruling if we are traveling to a relative in another governorate, where the trip takes only a few hours and we do not spend the night on the road? We ask for guidance, Your Eminence?

Answer:
A woman must not travel except with a mahram, absolutely; because of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): It is agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). He did not specify a day or a night. As for the hadiths that specify a day and a night, or two days, or three days, the scholars understood these to be based on the questions asked. Someone would ask about three days, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) would answer; someone would ask about two days, and he would answer; and someone would ask about a day and a night, and he would answer. The common factor in this is the journey. So, for any journey, a woman must not travel it except with a mahram. This is a distance of approximately eighty kilometers, which was a day and a night's journey for a mount in the past. If the journey reaches approximately eighty kilometers, it is a journey, and she must not travel it except with a mahram.

The presenter : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.