Question

asssalm o alikum i had read your fatwa. please tell me in short you were saying that chat is not allowed? and messeging, email exchange is not allowed? one of my friend is saying that it is allowed because no one can see you face and cant listen your voice. so i have to decided that i will give her prove that this not allowed in islam. please reply me. jazakALLAH

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

What we mean in fact is that chatting between men and non-Mahram women is forbidden in Islam as well as exchanging messages between them. The only exception that is made to this rule is when there is a necessity or a dire need and provided that the Sharee’ah regulations for chatting between man and woman are met, like her not being in seclusion with him or speaking to him in a soft and attractive voice. The Sharee’ah came to block the means to evil, and it is for this reason that it forbade all means of temptation between men and women; Allah Says (what means): {O, you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of the devil. And whosoever follows the footsteps of the devil, then, verily he commands Al-Fahsha' [i.e. to commit indecency (illegal sexual intercourse, etc.)] and Al-Munkar [disbelief and polytheism (i.e. to do evil and wicked deeds, to speak or to do what is forbidden in Islam, etc.)}[Quran 24:21]

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet said: "The child of Aadam’s share of Zina (adultery or fornication) has been predestined for him, and he will inevitably commit it. The Zina of the eyes is looking (at forbidden things), the Zina of the ears is by listening, the Zina of the tongue is by talking, the Zina of the hands is by touching, the Zina of the foot is by walking [towards immorality], and the heart desires and wishes. Then, the private parts may affirm or deny (i.e. may or may not put that into effect)." [Muslim]

On the other hand, we do not know from where your friend got the evidence that it is a condition for chatting between a man and a non-Mahram woman to be forbidden that they see each other or hear each other, rather, the reality proves that chatting is one of the reasons of temptation especially if there is no necessity or need for it.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb