Taking care of elderly people is a lawful job

1-11-2003 | IslamWeb

Question:

I work with elder people, and sometimes you have to change their cloths, in that case we see there Awrah is that Haram.

---

Answer:

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

In principle, it is not permissible for anyone to look at another person's 'Awrah or touch it except for a dire necessity, like when the doctor is treating a patient or when someone is unable to fulfill his/her own personal needs due to illness or decrepitude, and the like due to the need to take off his clothes off his 'Awrah.

However, it should be mentioned that the person doing such a job should fear Allaah, so he/she should not look at the 'Awrah except for the minimum necessity and he/she should not touch it with his/her bare hands. Rather, he should put something on his/her hand to avoid direct corporal contact with the 'Awrah if he/she is not a spouse.

Therefore, if these elderly people do not have spouses or children to meet their (physical) needs, then the ruler is obliged to appoint someone to do that for a necessity provided the above conditions are met.

Based on this, it is lawful for you or any other person to do this job.

Allaah Knows best.