On Women Travelling Without a Mahram

Answered by Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)

Is it permissible for a woman to travel with her mother but without a mahram (a male relative whom she cannot marry)? She has a mahram who will see her off at the airport and another mahram who will pick her up at the other end.

Some contemporary scholars take the view that this is permissible but if there is no dire need then this should be avoided, especially if the journey takes three days, due to the explicit statement of the Prophet ﷺ in the sound hadith: “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for a distance that it takes three days to cover without her husband or a mahram.”