when he said: “No man should ever be alone with a woman, for Satan is the third of them” (1).

He also said: “No woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day may undertake a two-day journey unless accompanied by her husband or a mahram relative” (2). He thus forbade seclusion with an unrelated woman and traveling in her company, because this is a means leading to evil.

It is reported from al-Sha'bī that when the delegation of Abd al-Qays came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there was among them a strikingly handsome youth. He seated him behind his back and said: “David’s sin was nothing but looking” (3).

Umar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) would patrol Medina by night (4). He heard a woman singing (5) some lines of poetry, including:

“Is there a way to wine, that I might drink it ...
Or a way to Nasr ibn Hajjāj?”

He made inquiries about him (6) and found him to be a handsome young man. He shaved his head, but this only increased his beauty, so he exiled him to