Ruling on an old man preaching to women in the presence of his Mahram women

12-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

My mother’s parental cousin is a religious and informed sixty-four-year-old man who loves preaching and advising people, and he wants to enjoin others and share his Islamic knowledge with them. He comes to our house with his wife and sometimes with his two sisters to sit with my grandmother, mother and aunts, who are all adherent to their due Hijaab, and teach them Islam after which they all pray together (in congregation) and then he leaves. Is such a gathering permissible from the Islamic point of view despite the absence of Mahram men with my grandmother, mother and aunts, given that there will be a large number of women who are all duly veiled and are all his relatives?

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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.

If the case is as you have clarified; they will not stay in seclusion with that man, and women will be duly adherents to their full Hijab and modesty, then such a gathering will be permissible. Rather, it is something good, especially with someone of advanced years; the presence of a Mahram man is not a must in such a gathering; for it is not regarded as staying in seclusion with non-Mahrams as there is a group of women. However, if you could find a female Muslim preacher to shoulder such a role, it would be better.

Allaah Knows best.