The Ruling on a Man Being Alone with His Divorced Wife, Whose Divorce Is Final

This is a message we received from the questioner, Ali Dlim Gharimah al-Asmari, from Mughayil, Tihama, Asir, Education Department. Brother Ali Dlim says in his message: I am a married man with three children. My aunt, who is my wife’s mother, was divorced by her husband, who is my uncle, ten years ago. She has a legal divorce certificate and lives with me, and I provide for her. It is not hidden from your eminence that my uncle, my wife’s father, is unmarried and comes to our house most of the time. When he comes to my house, my aunt meets him, serves him coffee and food, sits with him, and talks to him. Many times, she goes to his house and stays there for half a day. I have advised her against this behavior, but she has caused a problem between me and my wife. She orders my wife to go to her father’s house, knowing that his house is about two kilometers away from ours. She is not covered—or covered, as he wrote—and I do not allow her to go. When I prevent her, my aunt goes around spreading talebearing between me and my wife, prevents her from being with me, and boycotts me for more than two months. She forces me to go to the gold markets and buy her various types of gold jewelry for huge amounts of money, which I cannot afford to continue doing. I ask your eminence to inform me about this. May Allah reward you?
Answer: This behavior of your wife’s mother is not permissible. She has no right to go to his house when no one else is in his house. If no one is in his house, she has no right to go to him; because this is a suspicion, and being alone with her is a forbidden and reprehensible matter, and a means to committing a lewd act. Likewise, she has no right to be alone with him in your house, talk to him, and serve him food while he is alone with her, with no one else present. However, if she sits around him talking, and her daughter or someone else is with her, without being alone with him, and with hijab and covering, then there is no harm. But if she uncovers herself for him and does not observe hijab from him, this is not permissible. Because when he divorced her and she completed her waiting period, if her divorce was revocable, she becomes separated from him after she exits the waiting period, and she becomes a non-mahram. He has no right to be alone with her, nor to look at her, and she has no right to uncover her face, head, or any part of her body for him. Rather, she must observe hijab like other non-mahram men. So you must advise her and guide her to good, and ask the good people you know to advise her and warn her of the consequences of her action, and that it is a matter that is not permissible.
And if she harms you and causes problems between you and your wife, you have the right to prevent her from entering your house. You have the right to prevent her from entering your house and let her go wherever she wishes; because she is harming you in that case. And if you are patient with her and advise her, you will be rewarded. Yes.