IS IT RIGHT FOR A MUSLIM WOMAN TO LIVE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

 

QUESTION: is it right for a woman to live without a mehram in a foreign country for any specific reason, like studies etc???? is there any bukhari hadith regarding it????? please do guide me about it

Answer by Dr. Siddique:

A Woman Living and/or Working Alone

“Actions shall be judged by intentions.” {Hadith.]

The context is important. Why are they meeting? For research, for Dawah, for planning, for business?

Are they meeting at a place where there is no one else? The home of one of them? In a car or other enclosed space where there is no other human? That’s where the Hadith …

about being alone comes in.

If the purpose is legitimate, it should be in a public place where nothing is hidden, like in a conference room, or library or restaurant. [I meet my students in a conference room.]

In war time, even strictly “alone” meetings are permitted. This is where faith and trust come in. The warning is a moral warning. It is not imposed by anyone. Corrupt people can always find a way to meet secretly.

People who want to marry can meet in a public place. Again satan will be there. Intentions are important.

We can’t become police for people but we can give good advice to those whom we want to help. A married person should tell the spouse about the visit and the purpose of the visit. Even if there is a failure in consultation before the meeting, the maturity, trust and understanding of the spouses can save the situation from becoming a crisis.

If the spouse considers the meeting as a hidden form of sexual corruption, he or she, according to the Qur’an, can swear to an imam, that corruption is underway. This accusation will lead the imam to annul the marriage.

For charges of actual sexual corruption, four witnesses are required and this can result in imposition of terminal punishment by a legitimate Islamic court. If charges are brought without witnesses or DNA evidence, it is slander and the Islamic court will impose severe punishment on the accuser. [Chapter 24.]

End answer