Q. I am told that it is forbidden in Islam to talk to a person from the opposite sex. Could you please confirm whether this is true or not.

Abd Al-Rahman

A. It is a very serious matter to say that something is forbidden when it is not, or to make permissible what God has forbidden. In Islam the authority to forbid anything belongs to God alone. No one else is empowered to forbid anything. What the Prophet has mentioned to be forbidden is also prohibited by God, but the prohibition is communicated to us through the Prophet.

Anyone who claims to have the authority to make things forbidden, or to permit what God has prohibited, actually usurps God’s authority.

Another very important rule in Islam is that prohibition must be made clear by Qur’anic or Hadith text. All things are permissible unless there is a clear evidence of prohibition. So, we need not provide evidence in order to rule that something is permissible.

We can only say that there is no evidence to make it forbidden. The person who claims that something is forbidden is the one who must provide evidence in support of his claim.

There are hundreds of Hadiths which mention that women talked to the Prophet and asked him questions. In some of these Hadiths you find a husband sending his wife to ask the Prophet about something he wants to know. Also, there are numerous reports about the Prophet’s companions talking to women.

There is a famous report about the woman who objected to Umar when he wanted to restrict dowries to a maximum limit, which was equal to what the Prophet paid in dowry.

When she objected, he realized his mistake and said that she was right.

Indeed, Islamic society does not support the view of segregation. Women were present in practically all functions during the time of the Prophet and his rightly guided successors, even in war.

Arab News Islam 18 November 2002