Waleed Basyouni – Is It Permissible To Travel Without a Mahram – Ask The Imam
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The speakers discuss guidelines and narratives related to traveling without a considerate exception, including the use of a pod or a car, and the safety of the environment. They stress the importance of learning to manage traveling in a safe and safe environment, particularly in regards to deays of safety and travel restrictions. The speakers emphasize the need for individuals to learn to manage travel in a safe and safe environment.
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We have a question about women traveling without
a mahram and sometimes, you know, people who
need to go to Umrah and sometimes it's
just, you know, the husband is busy, the
son is busy and the woman just wants
to go on a vacation and she travels
without a mahram.
What are the guidelines and what is the
differentiation between these two situations that I mentioned?
Bismillah, alhamdulillah, salatu wa salamu ala alihi wa
sahbihi wa man walahu baad.
The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wa alihi wa salam,
said in this hadith sahih, it's absolutely authentic,
the Prophet said, la yahlul umraa tin tu'minu
billahi al-yawm al-akhir an tu'safira masirata
thalathi ayyam min ghayri, or thalathi ayyam min
ghayri mahram.
The hadith came that the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, said that it's not allowed for
a woman who believes in Allah on the
Day of Judgment to travel without a mahram.
A mahram is a male, independent, some say
adult, you know, relative, that she's not allowed
to marry forever, uncle, and so forth.
So, she's not allowed to travel without a
mahram.
And the hadith is general, you know, any
woman, old, young, you know, healthy, not healthy,
this is general.
Also, the hadith is specifically mentioned three days,
so is that the destinations or the time,
for three days?
As a matter of fact, these three days
carry no meaning, because there is another narration
that said two days.
There is another two days or a distance
of two days of traveling.
And whatever you're going to travel in two
days, or that traveling takes you two days
to arrive in your destination, then Allah.
And one narration, one.
And all these narrations in Sahih Muslim, and
also Sahih Muslim there is another narration without
mentioning any days, is not allowed to travel,
period.
That's led the ulama to say that this
one day, two days, three days, is not
meant for itself.
And Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam only mentioned
this because he was asked about different destinations.
Some of these destinations take three days, some
of these take one day, sometimes he was
asked general questions.
Also, Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam was, you
know, mentioning it to different people because, you
know, it fits the person who is asking.
But it really have no, it's not a
condition.
This description is not a condition.
So that's why Nabi salallahu alayhi wa sallam
mentioned that, and he said, there is ijma,
there is agreement, like, between the majority of
the scholars that women are not allowed to
travel without mahram.
But ulama, rahim Allah, debated among themselves on
the following.
They said, what if some of them made
an exception to Hajj and Umrah?
And there's some of that, Malikiya, rahim Allah,
some of the Shafia.
They said if it's Hajj or Umrah, some
of the scholars among the Hanbal as well.
But Hanbal and Ahnaf is more strict about
this.
They said not allowed at all.
The opinion that in the Hanbali Madhab is
not allowed to travel for Hajj or Umrah
or any other without mahram.
Some other scholars said no, that it is
allowed for Hajj and Umrah.
And Hajj and Umrah, specifically, and one of
the evidence that they used that Aisha radiallahu
alayhi wa sallam, she traveled with Asma, her
sister, and at that time she didn't have
a mahram, Asma.
And Sahaba did not object to that, and
Aisha radiallahu alayhi wa sallam did that.
And they said the Hajj and Umrah is
wajib, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordered
us to atimul hajj wa umrah lillah.
So it's like going to the masjid, going
to the Hajj and Umrah, and it requires
traveling.
The others said no, it is not wajib
unless you have a mahram to travel with
you.
So, and other than Hajj and Umrah, you
will find the four madhab agree into it.
Ibn Taymiyyah rahimallah, and some fuqaha' among the
shafi'iyya and others as well, Ibn Taymiyyah
took the position that Hajj or Umrah or
any traveling that's considered ta'a, because the
fuqaha' made an exception for hijrah.
A new Muslim who live in somewhere, and
now she's going to travel to go to
a land where Muslims are, or community, they
said it's allowed.
Or in a case of, certain cases like
this, so very specific cases.
But to free herself, or to protect herself,
or you know, an abuse for example, and
she travel to save her life, they said
it's allowed.
Ibn Taymiyyah said, no, we can make an
analogy on Hajj and Umrah, to any kind
of traveling that's considered ta'a, like traveling
to seek knowledge, travel to see her parents,
anything that is considered a good deed.
And he leaned toward that, even without mahram.
But they said with the following conditions, even
with Hajj and Umrah, that is safe to
travel.
And if you look, and they said safe
by, even in their time, there is no
100% safety.
And some people today, oh there is no
safety, what if the airplane landed or something
happened to it?
Same thing, even in the old days, a
caravan would go out, there's nobody can guarantee
safety.
The risk is much higher in the old
days, but still the fuqaha said, safe, relatively
safe.
And today, definitely relatively safe.
Airport are a safe place, airplane are a
safe place, you know, nobody can harm somebody,
hurt somebody, or harass somebody, most of the
time, it is protected, you know, environment.
And anyway, also they said that her mahram,
wali, is okay with that.
It's not like I leave a sticky note
in my fridge, by the way, I left.
You know, it's just not how it works.
We live together, you know, I'm okay with
that.
It's not you're going to the market.
Yeah, I'm going for a week, by the
way, to Umrah.
You can't do that, you have to tell
your husband, tell your dad, your father, if
you're still living with him, and your mahram.
So that's number two, the second condition.
I think also one of the third, I
add this, actually, that she knows how to
travel.
Like I've seen some sisters that didn't know
how to travel.
They don't know how to manage traveling.
Those people are more at risk than someone,
like for example, she doesn't speak English at
all.
You know, this would be a problem for
her to travel, unless there is absolute need.
I would be more strict with someone like
that, than someone who knows how to manage,
how to handle themselves.
You know, that would be much easier in
this case.
So there is a need, and part of,
I would say, personally in today, also a
need can be added.
So Ibn Taymiyyah, he restricted it to ta
'a.
And among our sheikhs, Shaykh Abdul Razzaq Afif,
he also allowed it.
Shaykh Ibn Jibreel allowed it for ta'a,
for visiting relatives.
It's hard for me to take days off,
to take my wife, for example, all the
way to Pakistan, or to Egypt, you know.
But she wants to go visit her mom.
I want the kids in the summer to
go, but I don't have vacations.
I don't have days.
So in this case, they can travel and
come back.
But there is a need.
There is a need, and the need is
for them to learn deen, to be in
a Muslim country.
The need is for them to pray.
But it's not she's going on a cruise,
for example.
I'll come to this.
So you see all the ulama put it
in that category.
And some scholar put also a need, like
what?
Like work.
My work, it's a need.
It's required for me to travel, to a
conference, for example.
Also, my school, required for me to travel.
Or a need like, for example, this is
a seminar I want to go attend.
Even if it's not a religious seminar.
But I need that for my career, for
my work, for myself.
I need to learn something, you know, that's
important for me.
So that's also a need.
What if I go for a vacation, okay?
And I will go without mahram, say, blah,
blah, blah.
I believe you should not travel without mahram.
Unless in a very, very, very special like,
in a very special cases.
And at the end of the day, you
have to understand you're dealing with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
You're dealing with something that default is not
allowed.
And now you're breaking the rules.
You really, when you stand before Allah, you're
going to answer this question.
And you're ready to answer this question.
And I give you a real scenario.
Some sister told me.
They are in real depression.
Or they have a depression, okay?
And they want to travel to a friend
who lives in, let's say, in L.A.
and I live in Houston.
And I want to go spend a couple
of days there just to change my...
Would I consider this a need?
Yes.
And I consider this a need because there
is a need for the person also to
get out of that dark, you know, situation,
hardship, blah, blah, blah.
So that will be the people who say
there is a need.
We might have that room as well, but
each case judged by itself.
There is another group of scholars in modern
days, okay?
And I'm saying modern days and I mean
that because I don't know in the old
days somebody could give a blank check it
is allowed to travel without mahram.
But in modern days there is some scholars
said if it is safe and the one
is okay with that, she's allowed.
No need for the word need.
Okay.
They said she's allowed to travel.
As long as you fulfilled these...
These two conditions, safe and the mahram is
okay.
So she want to go, you know, have
a two days in a resort, for example,
in the Grand Canyon and it's safe there,
that's fine.
And among them Sheikh Yusuf Qardawi, he said
that.
But I'll tell you the truth, I don't
know base for this position in the traditional
books of fiqh.
Some of his argument, he said today traveling
and the environment is completely different than the
old days.
And also he said that's why Nabi Salaam
said in the end of the days woman
even will travel a great deal of distance,
fear only her, by herself and the sheep.
And he said the hadith talk about when
the environment change and there is safety, there
is the rule change.
Because again, traveling without mahram, it's not haram
for itself, it's for what can lead to.
It can be harm, it can be this.
That's why I said the case of need
allowed us for her to travel.
So I do believe that's an opinion by
a mufti.
I don't necessarily support that opinion.
But I saw I don't necessarily hold people
to the same standard of mine.
Like I have a family member who might
travel without mahram.
And I tell them my opinion.
But if they choose not to follow, it's
between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So I hope that give us a little
bit of understanding of the situation.
And I will end with one point that
a lot of people ask me about.
A school, my daughter got accepted in a
school in New York.
Hypothetically.
Yeah, hypothetically.
So if you're going to follow the rules
of traveling without mahram, you take her to
New York, for example.
Or you take her to Egypt.
She's going to stay in Egypt, or Morocco,
let's say.
You take her, then you come back.
Does she need a mahram while she's staying
in New York?
While she's staying in Egypt?
If there's a community.
There's no one in the four madhabs that
she has to.
Because there's a community, right?
It doesn't matter community.
It's a safe place, safe place.
So the rule is about the traveling.
But no one said that you're not allowed
to live in a place where your mahram
don't live.
That's not a rule.
That's not, at least as far as I
know, not exist in the books of the
book.
Or it's not the famous least opinion among
the four madhabs.
As I remember right now.
But they talk about the issue of traveling.
But when you arrive to that destination, all
what they require is this place to be
safe.
Okay.
And your mahram is okay with that.
That's a very good question.
A lot of people ask about that.
So she go to the dorm.
She go to live in a dorm.
You know what?
That's fine.
Even for me, she's allowed to travel by
herself as long as she knows how to
travel.
Because that's a need.
But if you even take the most strict
position.
And you take her there.
And you leave your daughter there.
You can come back.
You can come back.
That's also according to the, as far as
the fuqaha, it is allowed.
That's all I have in regard to this.
Thank you.