The IDEAL MUSLIMAH [The True Islamic Personality of the Muslim Woman]

She does not sit alone with a "stranger"

She does not sit alone with a "stranger"

Obedience to Allaah and His Messenger can only be achieved by following their commands and keeping away from that which they have prohibited.

One way in which the Muslim woman obeys Allaah and His Messenger is by not sitting alone with a "stranger" (ajnabi) i.e., a man to whom she is not related, because doing so is haram according to the consensus of the scholars, on the basis of the Hadeeth: "A man should not sit alone with a woman unless a mahram is with her, and a woman should not travel without a mahram." A man stood up and said: "O Messenger of Allaah , sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, my wife has set out for Hajj, and I have enlisted for such-and-such a military expedition." He said, "Go and perform Hajj with your wife."82
The mahram is a man to whom marriage is forever forbidden for a woman, such as the father, brother, paternal uncle, maternal uncle, etc. The ajnabi or "stranger" is a man to whom marriage is allowed in principle, even if he is a relative, especially the husband's brother and other similarly close relatives. It is forbidden for a woman to sit alone with all of these, because the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said : "Beware of entering upon women." A man of the Ansar asked, "O Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, what about the brother-in-law?" He said, "The brother-in-law is death."
The brother-in-law is the husband's brother or other similarly close relatives by marriage.

The Prophet's words, "The brother-in-law is death" mean that evil is more likely to occur from these quarters than from elsewhere, because of the ease with which he enters his brother's house. The word "death" is used for emphasis and as a sharp warning, as if sitting alone with the brother-inlaw may lead to immorality and calamitous consequences that would be akin to the calamity of death.

The true Muslim woman does not fall into such errors as are committed by so many careless people nowadays.