Women travelling

[hukri]

I've had this on my mind for sometime, can someone explain to me why women aren't allowed to travel without a mahram?

[Nur]

Shukri sis

 

Travelling poses more physical risks to women than men, unaccompanied woman travlling in remote areas can be the target of criminals. This law was made to help the safety of women.

 

After the advent of Islam, most social ills were corrected by the sharia law, any man found committing violence against women was punished, and at the same time, women's travelling was restricted to a maximum of a day and a night without a mahram, a double check to minimize the occurance of an avoidable crime against women.

 

Likewise , Park police in many jursidictions do not allow women to walk after sunset in unlit wilderness for their protection. Can you imagine a single female runner in a park after midnight being safe?

 

"But, today the world is different" you may say, " flying SAS to DareSsalam with a stop over in Cairo for a day, may noyt be dangerous"

 

The answer to this is that laws in Islam have a room for emergencies, and if a clear case of necessity ( DARUURA) is proven, then the womans caretaker or waly may approve for her travel alone for that period of time. The necessity though is a complex question that needs its own thread and InshAllah I will work on it soon.

 

Nur

[Reality Check]

^ in essence, the woman is a child who needs protection and chaporoning at all times

[hukri]

Nur first of all thank you!

 

And the woman travelling alone and it's the 21st century and lalala...I hate going down to the nearest corner shop alone, let us not speak about going alone to a foreign country!

 

Is it prohibited for me to like go on a class trip without a mahram?..I mean what will happen to me that won't happen to like 29 other students?

 

And how come a woman can't enter a country like Saudi Arabia on her own?

[Miriam1]

^^ All your questions are great, shukri, and i am sure Nur will answer to his best ability

 

I just had to respond to Opinionated, on her comment. Let me give u an example.

I work at a store in my neighbourhood, that closes pretty late. The store has a rule that one of the male co-workers should be present when the store is being closed and walk the women to their houses or bus-stops.

Even though i am fully capable of closing the store on my own, if a group ****** saw me doing that, they would think me more vurnerable then my male counterpart, even if i am not ( i could have the black belt in karate) it doesnt matter, its the society we live and the weak image that women have. Yes we would like for society to change but our ideals for change are not going to make an immediate transformation. So these laws that in ur opinion make women seem child-like are rather important.

I am sure if I did attempt to close the store on my own around 12am in the morning, I would find some looser try to cause trouble for me.

Moreover it suprised in the start that a people compeletly alien to Islam would think in this manner, but in reality it was simply commonsense.

 

Simply an opinion

[hukri]

^^hehe thanks!...just a little curious have a few others too but think we'll wait a little with those ...for now, waiting patiently for Nur's reply

[Nur]

OPPINIONATED SIS

 

you write:

 

 

Originally posted by Opinionated:

^ in essence, the woman is a child who needs protection and chaporoning at all times

My response:

 

in essence women are princesses who are entrusted with the most daunting job, bringing up good men and women.

 

These princesses require protection of the law, the universal law of Allah SWT. Because their job is so important, men are supposed to serve them with respect and treat them as their partners in life each doing their sahre of the responsibiulity entrusted on us of prepeari ng future men and women to live up to the purpose of creation.

 

 

Allah says : "Wa jacala beynakum mawaddatan wa raxmah"

 

" He made you ( men and women) loving each other and caring for one another"

 

So, a man who understands this principle, will be a soldier to protect the female from danger, and a caring man at home who supports her in her daunting job, a princess indeed. And that is Islams outlook.

 

 

Nur

[Reality Check]

La di da..

 

I am not alien to islam and I still think this mahram Idea is a buncha crock. Look at it this way..we are telling women to have men escort them everywhere..why don't we spend enough time fixing the problem with men who take advantage of women? women shouldn't have to feel afraid walking during the evening in her own neighborhood. Since this isnt a just world..practicing commen sense is required. You don't need a mahram for common sense. Just don't go walking around dark areas during the dead of night..don't park in an empty lot, etc, etc, etc..

 

By the way, most crimes happen in the home or around your home...not when travelling!

 

peace

[pearl]

Originally posted by Opinionated:

La di da..

 

I am not alien to islam and I still think this mahram Idea is a buncha crock. Look at it this way..we are telling women to have men escort them everywhere..why don't we spend enough time fixing the problem with men who take advantage of women? women shouldn't have to feel afraid walking during the evening in her own neighborhood. peace

istaqfurallah...the idea of a mahram is NOT a bunch of crock...these laws were set by ALLAH for ur protection....

 

sister...this whole topic is about travelling outside the city/country...depending on the distance one travels and has noting to do with travelling within ur city....

[Blessed]

Originally posted by pearl_shyte:

staqfurallah...the idea of a mahram is NOT a bunch of crock...these laws were set by ALLAH for ur protection....

 

sister...this whole topic is about travelling outside the city/country...depending on the distance one travels and has noting to do with travelling within ur city....

Agreed walaal. You require a mahram when travelling abroad not when your going to work / local store.

 

Also, in Canada and the UK they have specialist transport services for women who travel at night. This is in response to rise in the number of rapes and attackes on women - is this 'a buncha crock'?

[Changed]

i would undertand the muhram thing and i would abide by it if could but ,what if the girl has no muhram..in my case my father died , and i dont have brothers , and yeah no cousin in my city and not in a near by state.(can a cousin be muhram). now we all know that no cousin of ur's would come by to get u to another city or country, what would u suggest i do? and please dont say marry a man cuz i heard that bulkrap long time ago..seriously there has to be away around the muhram rule...marriage cant be the only solution can it :confused:

 

my mom had to take my brother in law to hajj for muhram but seriously what if non of her daughter were married and she had no brother too? thank god she has some but what if ? and she wanted to go to hajj? what would happened in her case. would she be forbidden to perform hajj..would i be forbidden if my uncles die and i have no other to take me?

 

for the record am not questioning god...am just presenting my case and i would like to have a solution...i asked the same question to different sheikhs their only suggestion was marriage and that is a big NO NO NO NO NO...and am looking for a better solution am sure that cant be the only alternative :confused:

[sayfulaah-almasluul]

mis-unique asked a very important question which absolutely requires a quite comprehensive answer,sis i am not sheekh and i won't claim to bring final solution to this big "if".but llet me try to logicaly look at it.islam is not a religone which can't meet the needs of it's believers,it very flexible.easy going.it offer solutions for every proplem that may face the moslim,it is not religone for one generation or one society or even one country.one may not understand (and i am not claiming i understand everything) how to get the al istinbaath.GOd says in holy quran. la yukalifu laahu nafsan illa wuscahaa which can be traslated as this,GOd does't obligate a soul beyond it's ability.if a women does't have a muhram.and want to go for example to hajj then she can be represented by someone else.it is as simple as that.all she needs to do is to pay the expenses of the person who will perform the hajj on her behalf.but i also understand that the issue is not only for hajj.for example a moslim woman want to see her father in another counrty and may be he is very ill or something of that sort,then we can take this great gaacidah which is altharuurtu tubiixu almaxthuurat which ilteraly mean in certain circumtances one is allowed to do restricted things.if it is not possible for her to get another way of doing it then she cvaan do it without it.

walaahu aclam wa axkam

[Reality Check]

Y'all have your convictions and I have mine. Ameenah, I didn't say women getting raped was a buncha crock sis. What I was meaning was that it is a buncha crock that men do the raping and we arent doing much to deter men from this behaviour..but we do with women. Just another way of thinking.

 

I just think its sad that a muslim woman can't go to hajj without a mahram!

[Nur]

Opinionated

 

You write:

 

 

Originally posted by Opinionated:

Y'all have your convictions and I have mine. Ameenah, I didn't say women getting raped was a buncha crock sis. What I was meaning was that it is a buncha crock that men do the raping and we arent doing much to deter men from this behaviour..but we do with women. Just another way of thinking.

 

I just think its sad that a muslim woman can't go to hajj without a mahram!

Answer:

 

 

Answer:

 

That is true, everyone has there convictions, and that is why we are exchanging opinions so at the end good opinions surface and we can all benefit from the discussion.

 

 

Now, Opinionated may I ask a Question

 

1. I understand that you are a Muslim, Muslim means someone who surrenders to a superior force, Allah SWT, who has further agreed to follow the guidance of Allah SWT, and the sunnah of his prophet SAWS.

 

Do you agree with that definition of islam?

 

 

If yes, then my second question is:

 

2. Do you know the idea of Mahram (legal escort) is from the Prophet SAWS or do you believe it is Hawaiian punch?

 

3. If you believe that it is from the prophet, don't you see a contradiction in the faith you profess to belong to and your words?

 

4. If you do not beleive it is from the prophet Muhammad SAWS, then where is your proof in Islam of your idea that Mahram is not needed and a woman should be free to go about her life without a legal male escort?

 

 

Kindly waiting for your answers.

 

Walaalkaa

 

 

Nur

[bilan]

salaam

correct me if i'm wrong, but what about the hadith that the prophet said something with the meaning that time will come women will travel from yemen to makkah alone afraid nothing but the wild animals, and the narrator said i have seen that happen, why did not he mention the mahram?