Takhrīj al-Ḥadīth – Fatāwā

1: It is reported by Abī Sa'īd al-Khudrī (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "A woman should not set out on a journey (extending) beyond three nights but with a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (827)]

The version in Sunan Abī Dāwūd, and others is as follows: "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allāh and the Last Day that she travels a journey of more than three days unless she is accompanied by her father, or her brother, or her husband, or her son, or her relative who is within the prohibited degree." [Sunan Abī Dāwūd (1726)]

2: It is reported by 'Abdullāh ibn 'Umar (may Allāh be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allāh and the Last Day that she travels a distance of three nights journey except when there is a maḥram with her." [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1338)]

3: It is reported by of Abī Sa'īd al-Khudrī (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "A woman should not go on a two day journey except with her husband or a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1197)]

4: It is reported by Abī Hurayrah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allāh and the Last Day to travel for one day and night except with a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1088)]

5: It is reported by Abī Hurayrah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that he said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) saying: "It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allāh and the Last Day that she travels for a day and there is no maḥram with her." [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2726 (6/437-438))]

6: It is reported by Abī Hurayrah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) indeed said: "A woman should not travel even a single barīd except with a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2727 (6/438-439))]

Imām ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) says: 'Barīd' it means four farsakhs, and a 'farsakh' is three miles.

This means one barīd is equal to twelve miles.

Imām Abū Bakr bin Khuzaymah (may Allāh have mercy upon him) says: 'Al-Barīd is twelve hāshmī miles.'

Imām an-Nawawī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) states that a barīd is half a day's travel.

We understand that in those days they used to travel by walking, so perhaps they would cover twelve miles by walking for half a day.

7: It is reported by 'Abdullāh ibn 'Abbās (may Allāh be pleased with them both) that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) as saying: "It is not permissible for a man to be alone with a woman, and no lady should travel except with a maḥram." Then a man got up and said: 'O Allāh's Messenger! I have enlisted in the army for such-and-such ghazwah, and my wife is proceeding for Ḥajj.' Allāh's Messenger (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "Go, and perform the Ḥajj with your wife." [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1862, 3006 & 5233); and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (1341)]

8: It is reported by 'Abdullāh ibn 'Umar (may Allāh be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "A woman should not travel except with a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2729 (6/440))]

9: It is reported by Abī Hurayrah (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "It is not permissible for a woman to travel except with a maḥram." [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2732 (6/441-442))]

10: It is reported by Abī Sa'īd al-Khudrī (may Allāh be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) prohibited for a woman that she travels except of there is a maḥram with her. 'Amrah bint 'Abdur-Raḥmān said: 'Ā'ishah (may Allāh be pleased with her) said pointing towards certain women: 'Is there no maḥram for each one of you?' [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2733 (6/442-443))]

From the above ten aḥādīth which were ṣaḥīḥ, clear and unambiguous, we understand that a woman can generally not travel without a maḥram, and there is no contradiction in these narrations. These (varying narrations) relate to varying circumstances. Because the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) was asked at different situations, (at times) he was asked if she can travel for three days without a maḥram, and he said 'no'. Similarly, he was asked if she can travel for two days or one day or 12 miles, or generally (without specifying a distance), without a maḥram. He replied in the negative.

Imām al-Bayhaqī says: 'And the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) was asked about a woman if she can travel without a maḥram for three days. He said 'no'. And he was asked about travelling for two days without a maḥram, he said 'no'. He was asked about one day, he said 'no'. Whatever (each narrator) memorized, he conveyed it. And no number from this number of days is actually a limit. And all guidance is with Allāh.' [Bayhaqī's Sunan al-Kubrā (5412 (3/199-200))]

Imām ibn Ḥibbān (may Allāh have mercy upon him) regarding the ḥadīth 9 that was mentioned above, has named the chapter: 'The mention that a woman is not allowed to travel a smaller distance or a larger distance except with a maḥram with her.'

Similarly, in ḥadīth 10, narrated by Abī Sa'īd al-Khudrī (may Allāh be pleased with him), 'Ā'ishah (may Allāh be pleased with her) said: 'Doesn't each one of you have a maḥram?', he (ibn Ḥibbān) explains (in case someone misunderstands the ḥadīth that it is not necessary to travel with a maḥram) and he writes: ('Ā'ishah wished to say)... 'Doesn't each one of you have a maḥram to travel with, fear Allāh and do not travel except with a maḥram with you.' [Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (2733 (6/442-443))]

Imām an-Nawawī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) said: 'The scholars said: The varying wordings that have come in the aḥādīth, their reason of difference is the difference of the questioner and the places, and the prohibition [ because of the ḥadīth] which prevents a woman travelling for more than three days (without a maḥram) does not mean that she can travel for a day, or a night, or a barīd [i.e., 12 miles] (without a maḥram). [Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim – Imām an-Nawawī (1338 (9/147))]

This means, different questioners, asked at different places, in different conditions, some asked for three days, or two days, or one day and night, or half a day. He [the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him)] answered them according to their questions and prohibited the women from travelling in each distance (without a maḥram), and the ḥadīth which says that the woman should not travel for more than three days without a maḥram, doesn't mean that she can travel for less than three days without a maḥram.'

Imām an-Nawawī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) thus summarized it like this: 'What we understand, that in every travel (according to the sharī'ah), the woman will be prevented from travelling without her husband or her maḥram, regardless of three days, or two days, or one day, or a barīd (i.e., 12 miles), or other than that; because the narration of ibn 'Abbās (may Allāh be pleased with them both) is general and it is the last narration of Muslim that preceded us (that) 'a woman is not allowed to travel except with a maḥram', this ḥadīth includes everything that is called a travel (in the sharī'ah).' [Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim – Imām an-Nawawī (1338 (9/147-148))]

'Allāmah 'Ubaydullāh Raḥmānī Mubārakpūrī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) states: 'And this ḥadīth (of 'Abdullāh ibn 'Abbās (may Allāh be pleased with them both)) there is a prohibition on the travel of a woman without a maḥram', and it is general regardless of the length of the travel being short or long, whether it is a travel for Ḥajj or other than that.'

He further writes that 'Allāmah al-'Aynī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) says: 'In this ḥadīth (it states) indeed that the woman is to not travel except with a maḥram, and the generality of the words attest to the generality of the (length of the) travel, and the ruling is that it is ḥarām for the woman to travel except with a maḥram, a short or long travel, for Ḥajj or other than it, and this is the opinion preferred by Ibrāhīm an-Nakh'ī, Sha'bī, Ṭāwūs, and the Ẓāhiriyyah (literalists).' [Mir'ātul Mafātīḥ Sharḥ Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (2537 (8/332))]

'Allāmah 'Abdur-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) says: 'And the majority of the people of knowledge stated that it is prohibited for a woman to leave for any travel without a maḥram, whether it be long or short, and the prohibition doesn't get cancelled when the distance is short, because of the generality of the ḥadīth of ibn 'Abbās (may Allāh be pleased with them both) due to the wordings: "A woman is not to travel except with a maḥram."' [Tuḥfatul Aḥwadhī (1169 (4/32))]

From the words of Mawlānā Mubārakpūrī (may Allāh have mercy upon him) as well, it is clear that a woman cannot travel in any case without a maḥram, regardless of the travel being lengthy or short, difficult, or easy, in every case a woman will be accompanied by her maḥram, i.e., her husband, or father, or brother, or son, or maternal uncle, or paternal uncle, every man with whom marriage is ḥarām (prohibited) for her. She has to accompany anyone from these while travelling. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) sent back the soldier whose name was enlisted for a battle, just for the sole reason that (in case he participates in the battle) his wife would have to travel alone for Ḥajj. And he (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) asked this soldier to go with her and perform the Ḥajj, and in an authentic ḥadīth the Ḥajj has been referred to as the jihād for women. As 'Ā'ishah (may Allāh be pleased with her) says: I asked the Prophet's permission about (participating) jihād. And he (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: "Your jihād (for the women) is Ḥajj." [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (2875)]

When the jihād of the woman is in her Ḥajj, and she was not allowed to leave (to perform such a great deed) without a maḥram, rather the enlisted soldier was excused and asked to go with his wife for Ḥajj. So how so, in the current era, can the sisters, mothers, daughters, and wives of the mujāhidīn (soldiers) regularly participate in religious events and da'wah related activities, without a maḥram.

Also, it should be noted that if a single woman's maḥram is present in a vehicle, and there are other women without their maḥram, even this is not permissible. The man present is the maḥram for his own woman, not for the other women. The lady who gives such a fatwā that allows women to travel day and night without a maḥram is (saying as such) based on ignorance and lack of knowledge. She should recant from her view. She should refrain from taking other women to programs in a car without a maḥram. Otherwise, she will be considered a severe sinner in the sight of Allāh.

Similarly, our brothers should also be mindful to prevent their sisters, wives, and daughters firmly from being prepared to travel without a maḥram. If they have to go somewhere, they must travel with a maḥram.