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Prohibitions in Islam - Page 20

should be that which has color but little smell. We ask Allah not to despise us and not to punish righteous men and women for the deeds of foolish men and women. May He guide us all to the Straight path.

A woman travelling without a mahram

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “It is not permitted for the woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel one day’s distance without the presence of a mahram.” (Reported by Muslim, 2/977).

When a woman travels without a mahram, this encourages corrupt people to prey on her because of her weakness; at the very least, her honor will be harmed. This prohibition applies also to a woman travelling by plane, even if - as is often claimed - one mahram sees her off at one end and another mahram meets her at the other. Who is going to sit next to her during the journey? What if technical problems divert the plane to another airport, or the flight is delayed? What if? There are too many stories of things that went wrong. For a person to be considered a mahram, he must meet four conditions: he should be a Muslim, over the age of puberty, of sound mind, and male.

Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘No woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day should travel a distance of three days’ journey or more unless her father, son, husband, brother or other mahram is with her.” (Reported by Muslim, 2/977).

Deliberately looking at a non-mahram woman

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and to protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.). That is purer for them. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what they do.” [Al-Noor 24:30]

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "The adultery of the eyes is by looking" (i.e. by looking at what Allah has forbidden). (Reported by Al-Bukhari, see Fath Al-Bari, 11/26).

Looking for a legitimate purpose is exempted from this rule, such as looking at a woman for marriage purposes, or a doctor examining a patient for medical reasons, etc. Women are equally forbidden to look at non-mahram men, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things) and to protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) [Al-Noor 24:31]

Men are also forbidden to look with desire at a man with a hairless or beautiful face. Men are forbidden to look at the ‘awrah of other men and women are forbidden to look at the ‘awrah of other women. If it is forbidden to look at something, it is forbidden to touch it, even over clothing. One of the ways in which Shaytaan deceives people is by making them think that there is nothing wrong with looking at pictures in magazines or watching movies, because what is seen is not “real,” even though such images clearly cause so much damage by provoking desires.

Seeing one’s womenfolk behaving in an immoral fashion and keeping silent

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of