Having female friends in US and touching

15-5-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

I want to know is it ok if I am in USA and every one have female friends and it is just friends but sometimes touching happens, is it bad?

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the World; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

What is known nowadays by having a girlfriend is forbidden by Islam. It is a tremendously abominable act. Before Islam, the people used to practice this, but when Islam came this act became unlawful and restrained. Ibn Abbas (Radiya Allahu Anhu) said: 'The people of Jahiliya (pre-Islamic period) were forbidding apparent adultery, but they were permitting hidden acts, saying: 'what is visible from it (adultery) it is blamed and what is secretly it is all right' . And Allah Almighty revealed in {…come not near to Al-Fawâhish (shameful sins, illegal sexual intercourse, etc.) whether committed openly or secretly, …} [6:151].
Allah prohibits this kind of relationship to men and women. He Says: {…they (the above said captive and slave-girls) should be chaste, not adulterous, nor taking boy-friends. ….} [4:25] and, regarding the man, He also Says: {…desiring chastity (i.e. taking them in legal wedlock) not committing illegal sexual intercourse, nor taking them as girl-friends. ….} [5:5].
It is well known that Islam forbids all sexual relationships outside of marriage. Islam doesn't recognize love affairs between two sexes, all those unlawful sexual relationships are tremendous transgressions aside from being a major sin to get sexual satisfaction and privacy for the couple. We find in Hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas who said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) saying: It is not allowed to a man to sit with a woman except, with the Mahram" . [Reported by Imams Bukhari and Muslim ].
Also Imam Ahmad reported that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Whosever believes in Allah and the Judgment Day, he should not be alone with the woman who is not Mahram because the third is the devil" .
Touching or shaking hands with the woman (who is not Mahram) is a sin and cause of corruption. Narrated by M'aql Ibn Yassar that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "It is better for one of you to be stabbed with a big iron needle into the head than to touch the woman who is not permissible to him" . [Reported by al-Tabarani and Baihaqi ].
But, whoever touches a strange woman without intention it is not a sin and he doesn't enter in the mentioned Prophet's (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) threatening, he should keep away from the places crowded with women.
Allah knows best.