Contacting women via text messages for the purpose of work or personal matters

Question: 174399

What is the ruling on directly texting the opposite gender? I am in an organization that requires communication with sisters. The brothers and the sisters must work together and so need to somehow communicate back & forth in order to facilitate/organize Islamic events and programs for the youth of our community here in the United States. And given today’s fast emerging technologies, texting seems to be the most convenient and this is what people use for the majority of their communication because it is instant & quick. What is the ruling if I text a sister directly about a matter regarding work for the organization? What about a personal matter? Would copying people on the same text make things better (to make it more than a 2-way conversation) for personal and professional matters? Where do we draw the line? Please explain all the limits & the rulings regarding this matter as it is becoming an issue of concern.

Answer

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

There is nothing wrong with contacting fellow workers via text messages, so long as it is limited to work matters and organization.

With regard to personal messages between the genders, the basic principle is that it is not allowed, because of the negative consequences to which it may lead, such as infatuation and what that leads to. But if the message is sent to all workers, then there is nothing wrong with it in that case, because the negative consequences are no longer a concern.

For more information, please see the answers to questions no. 26890 and 34841

And Allah knows best.

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