Is it essential for a woman to have a mahram with her for a short journey?

Question: 110929

Must I have a mahram with me while traveling between Cairo and al-qalyoubiyyah (about 100km)? My father has passed away and my only brother lives close to his university, and he does not come except in the weekends. This will delay many important matters of mine.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

The saheeh Sunnah indicates
that it is not permissible for a woman to travel without a mahram. This
includes both long and short journeys, according to the majority of
scholars. Everything that is called travelling is forbidden to a woman
unless she has a mahram with her.

Al-Bukhaari (1729) and
Muslim (2391) narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “No
woman should travel except with a mahram, and no man should enter upon her
unless there is a mahram present.” A man said: O Messenger of Allaah, I want
to go out with such and such an army, and my wife wants to go for Hajj. He
said: “Do Hajj with her.”

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have
mercy on him) said, explaining that travel here does not refer to a
particular distance:

What is meant is that
everything that is called travel is forbidden to a woman without a husband
or mahram, whether it is three days or two days or one day or twelve miles
or anything else, because of the report of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be
pleased with him), “No woman should travel except with a mahram.” This
includes everything that is called travelling. And Allaah knows best. End
quote.

Al-Nawawi, Sharh Muslim
(9/103).

In Fataawa al-Lajnah
al-Daa’imah (17/339) it says: It is haraam for a woman to travel without
a mahram in all cases, whether the distance is short or long. End quote.

See also the answer to
question no. 101520.

What counts here is what is
customary among people. If people regard it as travelling, then it is
travelling, and it is not permissible for a woman to set out on such a
journey except with a mahram.

Going from al-Qalyoobiyah
to Cairo is not customarily regarded as travelling, rather there are many
areas in al-Qalyoobiyyah to which it is easier and closer to travel than
between one part of Cairo and another.

Based on this, there is
nothing wrong with going from al-Qalyoobiyyah to Cairo to attend to your
needs without a mahram.

And Allaah knows best.

Source:

Islam Q&A

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