She does not sit alone with a
“stranger”
Obedience to Allah (SWT) and His
Messenger can only be achieved
by following their commands and
keeping away from that which they
have prohibited. One way in which
the Muslim woman obeys Allah
(SWT) and His Messenger is by
not sitting alone with a
“stranger” (ajnabi) i.e., a man to
whom she is not related, because
doing so is HARAM according to
the consensus of the scholars, on
the basis of the hadith:
“A man should not sit alone with a
woman unless a mahram is with
her, and a woman should not travel
without a mahram.” A man stood
up and said: “O Messenger of Allah
(PBUH), my wife has set out for
Hajj, and I have enlisted for such-
and-such a military expedition.” He
said, “Go and perform Hajj with
your wife.”(Bukhari and Muslim),
The mahram is a man to whom
marriage is forever forbidden for a
woman, such as the father, brother,
paternal uncle, maternal uncle, etc.
The ajnabi or “stranger” is a man
to whom marriage is allowed in
principle, even if he is a relative,
especially the husband’s brother
and other similarly close relatives.
It is forbidden for a woman to sit
alone with all of these, because the
Prophet (PBUH) said :
“Beware of entering upon women.”
A man of the Ansar asked, “O
Messenger of Allah (PBUH), what
about the brother-in-law?” He said,
“The brother-in-law is
death.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
The brother-in-law is the husband’s
brother or other similarly close
relatives by marriage. The
Prophet’s words, “The brother-in-
law is death” mean that evil is more
likely to occur from these quarters
than from elsewhere, because of
the ease with which he enters his
brother’s house. The word “death”
is used for emphasis and as a
sharp warning, as if sitting alone
with the brother-in-law may lead to
immorality and calamitous
consequences that would be akin
to the calamity of death.
The true Muslim woman does not
fall into such errors as are
committed by so many careless
people nowadays.
May Allah guide us all