Ruling on helping a non-Mahram woman in distress

16-1-2015 | IslamWeb

Question:

assalamu alaikum brother I would like to know if a muslim would be rewarded for good deeds done to a non mahram women. for example when I was studying I used to help a sister who was in a great deal of stress and I helped her with her studying, financially and general help weekly. this involved speaking to her etc and I would like to know if I would still be rewarded for my actions even though I was speaking to a non mahram which I know is not permissible and I had no intention of marrying this person. Jazakallah khair

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Whoever does a good deed or a favor to another person seeking to earn the pleasure of Allaah will be rewarded for it as Allaah has promised. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means):

·    {So, whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it.} [Quran 99:7]

·    {They receive good tidings of favor from Allaah and bounty and [of the fact] that Allaah does not allow the reward of believers to be lost.} [Quran 3:171]

There is no objection to helping a woman in whatever is good and it is not necessary that the man intends to marry her for him to help her. However, the limits of interaction between men and women in Islam must be observed; we have mentioned some of them in Fatwa 83598. But if the man does not adhere to these limits, then he bears sin in this respect.

Allaah Knows best.