Can I See My Mother in Law without Hijab?

Question: 13231

Some women wear Hijab in front of their daughters’ husbands, and they refuse to greet them with Salam or shake hands. Is it permissible for them to do that or not?

Summary of answer

Answer

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

The husband of a woman’s daughter is one of the Mahrams through marriage, so it is permissible for him to see of her what he is permitted to see of his mother, sister, daughter and all other Mahrams. For a woman to cover her face, hair, forearms etc. in front of her daughter’s husband is a kind of extremism in Hijab.

Refusing to shake hands with a son in law when meeting is also a kind of extremism. That may lead to problems or a breakdown in relations.

She should avoid being extreme in this manner unless she has some reason to doubt him or she feels that the way he looks at her is not proper, in which case she is doing the right thing.

For more details, please refer to the following answers: 5538 , 217 , and 45970 .

And Allah knows best.

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Source:

Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas in al-Fataawa al-Jaami’ah li’l-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, vol. 3, p. 822