# Why did the Prophet say women should not travel without a mahram? *Why the Prophet limited women's travel: safety in a hostile Arabia* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jp8gjvvonms/s/6/ - Date: 2018-04-22 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Hadith Analysis & Fatwa: Women Can Travel Without a Mahram - Mufti Abu Layth (23:01–27:28) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp8GjvVONMs&t=1381s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jp8gjvvonms/ **Topics:** Interaction between men and women; The life of the Prophet; Hadith in legal reasoning and hadith absolutism **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** For their safety: Mufti Abu Layth says the limits tracked how far the safe zone around Madinah reached, widening as treaties spread, not a rule to confine women. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet was not setting boundaries to confine women in these hadith but was trying to safeguard them. **Evidence, his words at 23:01:** “these hadith were the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam not trying to set boundaries to confine women at all and anybody who thinks that anybody who thinks that has a poor” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp8GjvVONMs&t=1381s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet was not setting boundaries to confine women, and anyone who thinks so has a poor opinion of him; he was trying to safeguard them. He describes the hostilities the Muslims of Madinah faced from neighbouring tribes and the coalition, and the clause of the treaty of Hudaybiyya under which men who came over would be returned but not women, which infuriated Quraysh and others who were eager for a chance to seize the women. Mufti says that as treaties spread, Khaybar was settled and most of Arabia came under Islam, the safe zone widened, which explains why the reports move from one day to two, three and more than three days. He says men were targets too, but women were softer targets. ## Sources and names cited - report: a woman may not travel except with a mahram (Ibn Umar, Abu Hurayra, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Ibn Abbas; numbers not stated) - the treaty of Hudaybiyya - Quraysh - the coalition against Madinah (al-Ahzab) - Khaybar ## Transcript (machine tier, 23:01–27:28) [22:26] can we go he said he said laughs no it is haram because it goes against the hadith of the Prophet so it's interesting that look that these this whole understanding this whole understanding and I don't think somebody said oh they mean I don't think it was I mean allowed women traveling generally either without a guardian I don't think [23:01] he did but that some all of my have and I'll come to that in a moment now see let's take a look at all of this what's really going on you see these hadith I've quoted people these hadith were the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam not trying to set boundaries to confine women at all and anybody who thinks that anybody who thinks that has a poor [23:40] opinion of the best of creation sallallahu alayhi wasallam the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was trying to safeguard now during his lifetime medina and the muslim settlement was attacked and was was undergoing huge hostilities neighboring tribes at time you had hot fun and these are the tribes and all these people you had the assad the coalition against the [24:17] Prophet you had so many people targeting the targeting the Muslim communities laying kind of CEO opportunists you had an understanding that the kuffar of Quraish said to the prophet of judah bia that any men that if a man is agile congratula NIF a man comes to you who believes you will have to return him to us and the prophet agreed because the muslims needed this they needed to compromise for this safety for for kind [24:54] of a peace settlement now at the time when the women came the prophet said we agreed to men but we didn't say woman so we're not gonna send these women back this infuriated the Crafar of Quraish and other tribes as well people were just dying for an opportunity to get the Muslims back now as the time progressed the Muslims Muslims kind of had treaties peace [25:31] treaties with varying tribes ok now some of these like so for example sometimes they were neighboring tribes there was let's say hey bird with the Jewish kind of settlement then that gets settled Muslims kind of take over they established this ok that's not a threat anymore then you've got the coalition ok the coalition breaks away some other tribes come in they become friendly now and these ones then well they think well and towards the end of the prophet's life the whole of arabia had pretty much come under an agreement with the prophet [26:10] and most of arabia had come under Islam so you see that based on the dangers the vicinity was varying hence the Prophet was saying oh she shouldn't travel one day because right now the tribe a whole day would get a woman this far beyond that is a danger zone then the the peace treaties expand oh who travels to day is okay but beyond that there's a danger zone oh now it's expanded even further three days oh then it expands a bit more [26:50] three days and more this was the Prophet trying to safeguard the women because yes men were targets too but women were greater and Sina softer targets by these people okay so this was why the prophesy Ali Salim had said and how how can we prove this well let's go to another hadith right now I want to take you to a hadith which is also in Bukhari now this [27:27] hadith in which the Prophet is addressing a companion by the name of our idea even hurt him okay I did not hurt him he's speaking to the prophet and the Prophet says to him he says to him yeah I D do you know where I'll hear is an era is a place a location it's actually located in Iraq it's very far from the Arabian Peninsula especially in that day and age and he says you know I've heard of it this place called adhira ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment jp8GjvVONMs/s/6. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jp8gjvvonms/s/6/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.