Q. Is it appropriate for me to perform the Umrah if I travel with a group of friends and my 10-year-old son?
S. Zafar
A. Normally a woman must travel only in the company of a mahram, who is either her husband or a relative whom she is not allowed to marry. This restriction is part of the exceptional care Islam takes of women.
I should perhaps add here that Islam strongly discourages a woman from traveling on her own. When Islam requires a woman to have a close relative as a companion on her travel, it only wishes to make sure that the woman has as a companion someone who knows her well and who can look after her.
Scholars also make it clear that a woman may travel for pilgrimage and Umrah with “safe companionship”, which means a group of people with whom she is deemed to be safe. Thus, if you are traveling with a family of friends, and the group includes some women, you may go ahead. The fact that you are taking your 10-year old son, who is too young to be your mahram, makes the situation even more reassuring.
Wearing Tight Clothes
Q.1. Could you please explain whether it is permissible for a woman to wear tight clothes, clearly displaying her figure, in front of her close relatives? How about wearing them outside, underneath the abayah?
Q.2. Recently I made a promise to God that I will not do anything that is forbidden if He grants me a certain request. He kindly favored me with granting my request, but I failed to fulfill my promise. What should I do?
(Name and address withheld)
A.1. A woman may wear such clothes in front of her husband and young children, when they are in the privacy of their own home. Wearing such clothes in front of her father, brothers, uncles and nephews is not acceptable. As you know, a woman appearing in such clothes invites sexual thoughts in men’s minds. To do so with her close relatives is serious, because when such thoughts are connected with her, they become incestuous. If such relatives do not connect their sexual thoughts with her, they are still troubled by them. Hence, Islam insists on women maintaining its standards of decency in all situations.
If a woman wears such clothes underneath a garment that meets the Islamic standards for appearing in public, and people who look at her cannot see what she is wearing underneath, then this is permissible. The clothes themselves are not forbidden to wear. It is how a woman appears before others that may be permissible or not, as the case may be.
A.2. If the promise you gave to God was in the form of an oath, then you are required to make the compensation of a broken oath, which is to feed ten poor people or to give them some clothes. You give such ten people a meal of the average type you give to your family at home. A person who cannot afford that compensates for a broken oath by fasting three days.
On the other hand, if the broken promise did not involve an oath, but was merely a promise, then you compensate for it by sincere repentance, and a resolve not to do it again. It is also recommended to add some voluntary good action, such as sadaqah.
Arab News Islam 15 August 2003
