Living in the West, we often come across situations where it involves shaking hands with someone of the opposite gender. Is it haraam? What about hadiths speaking about this issue?
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi answers
Can I shake hands with somebody of the opposite gender.
My position on this is that it should be avoided as much as possible but in and of itself, it is not held on and if it has to happen, then it's not something that is necessarily sinful, we should avoid it. And the protocol should it be that the opposite genders are not physically touching one another. But I think that it is mcru It is best to avoid but it is not sinful to do so especially when circumstances are forced on us such as a job interview or something of this nature. There are many odema who say that it is how long and I respect that position. And if you follow that position, that is fine as well. Of course there are Hadith that mentioned that it is better to be pricked in the
you know, head with the needle than to touch a woman or something. Some owner might have said this hadith are weak, even if it is authentic, one can also understand these, a hadith to me and when you touch them out of lust, it is authentically narrated that some of the Sahaba they had aunts or whatnot were not necessarily Muslim, or elderly family members were not Muslim who would serve as them comb their hair or something of this nature and there are evidences to suggest that some of the Sahaba is authentically narrated, would be physically touching and there's no scenario or situation of lust. So, the main thing is that lust should not be there and it should be avoided as much as
possible. But as I said in my in my opinion, it is something that is makuu which means it should be avoided, but it is not how long
Living in the West, we often come across situations where it involves shaking hands with someone of the opposite gender. Is it haraam? What about hadiths speaking about this issue?
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi answers