❀ Ruling on Speaking to One’s Fiancée Over the Phone ❀
This fatwa is taken from the book “500 Questions and Answers for Women,” based on the rulings of the scholars of the Ḥaramayn and translated by Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbdullāh Salīm.
Is it permissible according to Islamic law for a man to speak with his fiancée over the telephone?
There is no harm in a man conversing with his fiancée over the phone, provided that she has accepted his marriage proposal, and the conversation is limited to what is necessary for creating mutual understanding. If this communication takes place through her guardian, then it is even better and free of any doubt or suspicion.
However, the type of conversations that typically occur between unrelated men and women, or young boys and girls, who are not engaged, under the pretext of getting to know each other—such interactions are forbidden and reprehensible. They are a cause of temptation, and lead to immodesty and sin.
Allah ﷻ says:
«فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا»
[Surah al-Aḥzāb: 32]
“Do not be soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease should covet, but speak a proper word.”
A woman should only speak to an unrelated man when it is necessary, and even then, her speech must be in a proper and known (modest) manner, free from any temptation or suspicion.
It is also explicitly mentioned by the scholars that a woman in the state of Ihrām should not raise her voice while reciting the Talbiyah, and in the Hadith it is stated:
«إذا نابكم شيء في صلاتكم، فليسبح الرجال، ولتصفق النساء»
[Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Dārimī, 1/365]
"If anything happens during your prayer, men should say ‘Subḥān-Allāh’, and women should clap."
This Hadith proves that a woman should not raise her voice for men to hear—except in situations of necessity, and even then, she must speak with modesty and dignity.
وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ
[Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbdillāh رحمه الله]
This fatwa is taken from the book “500 Questions and Answers for Women,” based on the rulings of the scholars of the Ḥaramayn and translated by Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbdullāh Salīm.
❖ Question:
Is it permissible according to Islamic law for a man to speak with his fiancée over the telephone?
❖ Answer:
There is no harm in a man conversing with his fiancée over the phone, provided that she has accepted his marriage proposal, and the conversation is limited to what is necessary for creating mutual understanding. If this communication takes place through her guardian, then it is even better and free of any doubt or suspicion.
However, the type of conversations that typically occur between unrelated men and women, or young boys and girls, who are not engaged, under the pretext of getting to know each other—such interactions are forbidden and reprehensible. They are a cause of temptation, and lead to immodesty and sin.
Allah ﷻ says:
«فَلَا تَخْضَعْنَ بِالْقَوْلِ فَيَطْمَعَ الَّذِي فِي قَلْبِهِ مَرَضٌ وَقُلْنَ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا»
[Surah al-Aḥzāb: 32]
“Do not be soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease should covet, but speak a proper word.”
A woman should only speak to an unrelated man when it is necessary, and even then, her speech must be in a proper and known (modest) manner, free from any temptation or suspicion.
It is also explicitly mentioned by the scholars that a woman in the state of Ihrām should not raise her voice while reciting the Talbiyah, and in the Hadith it is stated:
«إذا نابكم شيء في صلاتكم، فليسبح الرجال، ولتصفق النساء»
[Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Dārimī, 1/365]
"If anything happens during your prayer, men should say ‘Subḥān-Allāh’, and women should clap."
This Hadith proves that a woman should not raise her voice for men to hear—except in situations of necessity, and even then, she must speak with modesty and dignity.
وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ
[Ṣāliḥ ibn Fawzān ibn ʿAbdillāh رحمه الله]
