because a man’s touching a woman or shaking hands with her provokes temptation and leads to evil between them. Likewise, women in general are not permitted to shake hands with men on this basis when those men are not their maḥrams; it is impermissible for them to do so.

***
Traveling by Airplane

Question: Is it permissible for a woman, in our present time, to travel alone by airplane, bearing in mind that the safeguards against temptation are in place because someone escorts her to the airport and someone receives her at the other airport, and that the longest flight lasts only a few hours—that is, continuous flying rarely reaches a full day or two?

Answer: A woman is not allowed to travel except in the company of a maḥram, whether by airplane, by car, or on an animal, because of the general wording of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement: “It is not lawful for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel a journey of three days or more unless she is accompanied by her father, husband, son, brother, or another maḥram of hers.”

This text is general for every time and place and for all situations. So long as she is going to travel, she must have a maḥram in obedience to this noble ḥadīth. As for the claim that an airplane removes the causes of temptation, it is unsound, for an aircraft is subject to events that can interrupt its course, and it may land at an airport other than the intended one because of some malfunction. The woman therefore needs a maḥram with her to take charge of her affairs and protect her.

Moreover, it is well known that the seats on an airplane are arranged in rows, and someone may end up sitting right next to her.