—a stranger who is no maḥram to her—and she will have no way of securing a seat that is exclusively hers, with no one else sharing it. That is impermissible.

In sum, air travel can make a woman’s need for a maḥram even greater than other modes of transport: unforeseen incidents may occur, there is unavoidable intermingling, and the long stretch of the journey itself creates a need for a maḥram. It is therefore insufficient for one maḥram merely to see her off at the departure airport while another receives her at the arrival airport. Who can guarantee that the plane will fly straight from the airport it left to the one it is bound for?

Question: Does the Prophet’s ﷺ phrase “three days” in the ḥadīth mean that the ruling is not tied to that length of time but to the underlying legal cause?

Answer: The Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “three days,” is general. It is based on the distance ordinarily covered on foot or by pack animals, whether that distance takes a long or a short time to traverse. The ruling is not fixed by the number of hours; it is fixed by the distance. The time varies with the means of transport: one person may cover it in an hour, another in several days, a month, or even months. No ruling is linked to the sheer length or brevity of the travel time; it is linked to the distance itself.

Children’s Dolls

Question: What is the ruling on keeping three-dimensional figures known as dolls for children, which are sold in the markets? Is this permissible or forbidden?

Answer: First of all, possessing images in general—whether they are three-dimensional or drawn—is