Abbas Zaid writes: Ahmed Sharaf Al-Din's opinion on a woman's travel without a mahram
English - Saturday 05 November 2022 الساعة 05:52 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen:
The scholar Ahmed Muhammad al-Shami, may God Almighty have mercy on him, repeatedly affirmed that what distinguishes Dr. Ahmad Sharaf al-Din, may God Almighty be pleased with him, from other scholars of his time is that he combined the study of comparative Islamic jurisprudence, like all previous scholars, and the study of comparative law, so he combined the two Hasanites, he outperformed his peers and professors in all other forensic and legal sciences.
From this point of view, I will narrate his position and what we learned from him, regarding a legal jurisprudence issue, ancient and contemporary, related to women traveling without a mahram.
Some jurists rely on the necessity of obligating a woman to accompany her mahram on her travels based on narrations including (on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, with a chain of transmission traceable to the Prophet: “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in God and the Last Day to travel for a day and night without a mahram with her.”
The martyr Dr. Ahmad Sharaf al-Din believes that the narration is in the place of advice, not prohibition, and there is no legal worldly punishment for violating that.
The advice was also in the place of warning against unaccompanied travel under circumstances of risks that may surround women while traveling for a period of up to days or months, and the great risks that this entails for women.
Therefore, the purpose is to protect women from those dangers that may surround them.
Accordingly, Dr. Al-Shaheed believes that in our contemporary time, safety at all airports in the world is available at the highest levels. Airplanes today are considered safer than any other means of transportation.
In addition, the farthest journey today from the east of the earth to its west does not exceed specific hours.
There is no longer any justification for obligating a woman to a mahram.
This is on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is not permissible to arrange any penalty for violating the advice. Depriving a woman to travel without a mahram is a restriction on freedom of movement, which is stipulated in all man-made legislations as well as heavenly legislation, which makes the principle permissible in freedom of movement.
Yemeni law grants every citizen the right to obtain a passport, and restricting this right with regard to women by a regulation.. It is not legally permissible, and the regulation is considered to have lost its legitimacy for violating the provisions of the law.
I also remember how happy Dr. Martyr was when my daughter (his granddaughter) used to travel from Cairo to his home in Sana’a for university studies every year and return to us in Cairo alone without an escort and we were safe and assured when we had a state.
Today, Dr. Martyr is no longer safe for his home when he decided to go to the last session of the National Dialogue to sign the outcomes of the National Dialogue.
My brother and brother, Hassan Zaid, in the heart of the capital, did not feel safe from moving from his home to work in the absence of the state.
