What if you ask a Muslim woman out on a date? Or maybe even get married?

Islam is one of the world’s major religions, characterized by a rich interweaving of cultural and religious traditions. At its core, Islam emphasizes important values such as modesty, morality, and the sanctity of family life. Like any other faith, Islam has a set of rules and principles that shape the lives of its followers.

To observe these principles, Islam offers certain guidelines for both men and women. But we are going to talk about women.

Can a Muslim woman be with a non-Muslim man?

There are so many adherents of Islam in the world that it is impossible to avoid situations where sympathy arises between believers and non-believers. More often we hear that Muslim men find wives from different countries and it seems as if they do not care so much what religion a woman belongs to.

But we hardly ever hear stories about Muslim women marrying Christians, atheists and others. This does not mean that these stories do not exist, but they are indeed more rare and hidden. The most interesting thing about this is that both women and men in Islam are forbidden to marry non-believers.

It turns out that men are more likely to violate these prohibitions. Someone will say: “You can convert a woman to Islam and then you can get married, the Koran does not forbid it”. Yes, indeed. But the problem is that in principle it forbids dating non-believers. Nowadays there are even special Muslim-only dating apps and the interesting term “halal dating”.

So, if it happens that a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman have sympathy, the future of such a couple is extremely unlikely and vague. There is a high chance that after meeting you will not meet again, and if you do, the girl bears huge reputational risks. God forbid, someone from relatives or acquaintances will find out … There will be big problems!

In general, it is haram – it is forbidden to meet and marry non-believers. Although many people certainly want to. Some Muslim women travel the world, see other cultures and dream of trying different things – it’s a fact. Speaking of traveling….

Traveling Muslim women

In Islam, it is not recommended for women to travel alone for safety reasons. Well, it’s not recommended. It’s actually almost impossible – no one will let them in.

The rule was created to protect women from potential danger and to ensure their safety while traveling. Women are encouraged to travel with a close family member or trusted companion. Much depends on the particular family, country and other factors. Some places are stricter about these things, others not so much.

Abroad, of course, there is an increased chance of any interaction between Muslim women and non-Muslims, which no one in the family will be happy about for the reasons described above.

Contacts with men

We’ve sorted out that Muslim women cannot be with non-Muslim men, but what about contact and socializing?

Eye contact

Modesty is highly valued in Islam, and interactions between men and women should be modest. In our culture, maintaining eye contact during conversations is generally encouraged as a sign of sincerity and respect, regardless of the gender of the other person. In Islam, however, it is recommended that both men and women lower their eyes when interacting with the opposite sex.

This practice is intended to prevent inappropriate or lustful thoughts from arising during these interactions.

Touching

Physical contact between unrelated men and women is discouraged in Islam, primarily to protect against potential temptation.

This rule includes avoiding casual physical touching, as well as hugging or shaking hands with members of the opposite sex. Of course, any contact between Muslim women and members of other faiths is particularly frowned upon.

Communication

Of course, there are no direct prohibitions on Muslim women communicating with men of other faiths, but they are definitely not encouraged in Islam. It is also considered that such communication must have a valid reason – discussion of studies, work, but in no way idle conversations and especially not about something personal.

In general, everything is strict. No flirting, eyes in the floor, closed clothes. And one more important rule – you can not be alone with the opposite sex to avoid sinful thoughts or rumors of any inappropriate relationships.

Still, the article turned out to be more about prohibitions than about permitted things. In fact, Muslim women are allowed to communicate with non-Muslim men only on business and in a very distant manner. Although, of course, all sorts of things happen in life.