Why muslims are trailed with people who issues religious verdicts on TV programmes

Nowadays Muslims have been trialled with people who issue Religious verdicts on TV, newspapers, magazines, etc., without being qualified to do so. Thus, you find their verdicts opposing the Qur'an, authentic Sunnah and the consensus of those who preceded. 

One such issue where they have opposed the aforementioned sources is their permittance for women to travel without a mahram for reasons such as visiting, studies, tourism, business, to perform voluntary Hajj or Umrah, etc. 

The reason for their permittance returns to the following three matters, altogether or partially:

1⃣. He looks into the books of fiqh which discuss the differences of opinion between the scholars on this topic, assuming that this differing includes all types of travel, not knowing that the scholars only differed concerning obligatory Hajj and Umrah and nothing else (i.e. Is it permissible for a woman to travel without a mahram in order to perform the obligatory Hajj or Umrah? This is where the scholars differed. Aside from this, the scholars are in agreement that women are not allowed to travel without a mahram). Then after looking into the different opinions and the arguments put forth, he may conclude that the stronger opinion is that of allowance, but due to his lack of awareness, he goes on to up generalise this allowance to include all types of travel.

2⃣. He may be aware of the concensus prohibiting women to travel without a mahram (except for the obligatory Hajj and Umrah), but he deliberately opposes it by allowing women to travel without a mahram. He does so submitting himself to people's desires in order to draw acceptance and gain a bigger following. He can fool the people and get his wishes (acceptance and popularity), but can he escape from Allah?! 

3⃣. He is part of a political party seeking to win people's votes, so he is ready to tell people whatever they want to hear - even if it means opposing the Islamic sources. 

Let us now clarify the issue and make everything clear:

There are two cases with relation to women travelling without a mahram:

THE FIRST CASE: 

A woman travels without a Maḥram for purposes other than fulfilling the obligatory Ḥajj or ’Umrah 

For example:

Travelling to visit family or friends, for the sake of studies, tourism, in order to perform voluntary Hajj or Umrah, etc. 

In this case, a woman is NOT ALLOWED to travel without a mahram by agreement of all the scholars. None of them differed concerning this. 

We will mention the references for this concensus in the next post inshallah.

Here are some referenced quotes from those who transmitted the aforementioned concensus:

1⃣. Al-Baghawi raḥimahullāh said:

“They did not differ concerning impermissibility of women travelling without a husband or a Maḥram for purposes other than the obligatory Ḥajj, and apart from (exceptional circumstances such as) a kafir woman embracing Islam in a non-Muslim land (I.e. She is allowed to migrate to a Muslim land without a mahram) or a female prisoner who escapes her captives. Others added: or a woman who becomes detached from her travelling companions and is found by a trustworthy man; in which case he is allowed to accompany her until he brings her back to her group.” 

[This was transmitted and endorsed by Ibn Ḥajar in Fat-ḥ Al-Bārī (4/90)] 

2⃣. Al-Qāḍhi ’Iyāḍh raḥimahullāh said:

“They did not differ concerning the fact that she is not allowed to travel without a Maḥram for purposes other than the obligatory Ḥajj.” 

[Ikmāl Al-Mu'allim Sharḥ Muslim (4/446)]

▪️This transmission of Al-Qāḍhi ’Iyāḍh was also relayed and endorsed by:

A. An-Nawawi [Sharḥ Muslim (9/112)],

B. ’Alā' Ad-deen ibnul ’Aṭṭār [Al-'Uddah fī Sharḥ Al-’Umdah (2/959)] 

C. Ibnul Mulaqqin [Al-I’lām bi fawā'id ’Umdat Al-Aḥkām (6/82)] 

3⃣. Al-Qurṭubi raḥimahullāh said:

“They did not differ concerning the fact that she is not allowed to travel for a non-obligatory purpose except with a Maḥram or her husband.” 

[Al-Mufhim 3/450]

4⃣. Ibn Ḥajar raḥimahullāh said:

“This (ḥadīth) was used to establish the impermissibility of women travelling without a Maḥram; which is a matter of concensus - except in the case of (obligatory) Hajj and ’Umrah.” 

[Fat-ḥ Al-Bārī (2/662)] 

5⃣. ’Abdurraḥmān Ibn Qāsim raḥimahullāh said:

“They unanimously agreed concerning the impermissibility of a woman travelling without a Maḥram for purposes other than (obligatory) Ḥajj and ’Umrah, migrating from the lands of disbelief, and any other exceptional circumstances (ḍhurūrah); like the case of a man who finds a non-maḥram woman isolated somewhere in the open and so on, in which case he is allowed to accompany her; rather it is obligatory upon him to do so -without any differing- if he fears for her due to leaving her behind, based on the report of ’Ā'ishah (raḍhiyallāhu ’anhā) concerning the incident of Al-Ifk.” 

[Ḥāshiyat Ar-Rawḍh Al-Murbi’ (3/524)]

THE SECOND CASE:

A woman travelling SPECIFICALLY to perform the obligatory Ḥajj 

This is the issue over which the scholars have differed into two views:

The first view:

She is allowed to travel without a Maḥram provided there is safety. 

Safety may be by travelling with:

A. a group of women 

B. a group of trustworthy men 

C. a group comprising both men and women

This view was relayed from:

’Aṭā' ibn Abi Rabāḥ, Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, Qatāadah, Zuhri, Al-Ḥakam ibn ’Utaibah, Mālik, Awzā’ee, Ash-Shāfi’ee, Dawūd Adh-Dhāhiree. In fact, Ibn Baṭṭāl ascribed this view to the majority (Jumhūr). This was also the view of ’Ā'ishah raḍhiyallāhu ’anhā and Ibn ’Umar from amongst the Ṣahābah. This was also the view favoured by Sheikhul Islām Ibn Taymiyyah raḥimahullāh. 

The second view:

Absolute prohibition (except in exceptional circumstances -> ḍhūrūrah) 

This view was relayed from:

Ibrāhīm An-Nakh’ee, Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī, Ash-Sha’bī, Tawūs, ’Ikrimah, Abū Ḥanīfah, Sufyān Ath-Tahwrī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Is-ḥāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū Thawr, Ibn Al-Mudhir, etc. Al-Qāḍhi ’Iyāḍh ascribed this view to the majority of Jurists amongst Ahlul-ḥadīth. This was the view of Abū Sa’eed Al-Khudri raḍhiyallāhu ’anhu from the Ṣaḥābah. 

▪️Most of the contemporary scholars favoured this view; such as Sheikh ’Uthaymīn, Sheikh Ibn Bāz, Sheikh Albāni, Sheikh Muqbil, Sheikh An-Najmī raḥmatullāh ’alayhim.

And according to the supporting evidences, this view appears to be stronger than the first ‼️

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