Going out with fiance

Question:

I am engaged and I want to know if it is correct to go out alone with my fiance to public places like restaurants since these places are crowded and we never sit alone; we are always surrounded by people? Is it wrong to ride with him in his car during the day? If it is wrong, does this mean that hiring a taxi is also wrong since I ride with the taxi driver alone?

Answer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

You should know that a fiance is a completely alien man for his fiancee just as any other alien man as long as the marriage act has not been established. When both get married according to Shariah then he becomes her husband. Therefore, it is not permissible for a man to stay alone with an alien woman or to go out with her or to look after her. He can look at her only one time when he proposes to marry her in order to decide on whether she suits him or not.

It is prohibited for a woman to stay alone with any alien man, be that a taxi driver, a bus driver or someone else. The Prophet (sws) said: "It is not permissible for a man to be alone with a woman, and no lady should travel except with a Mahram (her husband or an unmarriageable relative). (Related by Imams Bukhari & Muslim).

In another Hadith the Prophet (sws) said: "Who believes in Allah and in the Last day should not be alone with a woman without any Mahram. If he does The Satan will be their third (companion)"(Musnad Ahmed).

Riding with a car driver is considered by Muslim Scholars the same as being alone with an alien man.

Allah knows best.