728. Can A Woman Travel Alone?

By Asma Bint Shameem

First of all, we should understand that there’s a difference between “traveling” and “driving”. 

*Traveling* is when someone travels *out* of his or her home town to another city. 

But “*driving*” means you’re going from one place to another *within* your own town. That’s not considered “travel”. 

And if she’s using a public transport like a bus or she’s walking etc then she can go alone. 

But if her father feels that she is not safe when going  anywhere alone then she should listen to her father and take a friend or female cousin, mother etc with her. 

And if she doesn’t have anyone to go with her, it’s best to avoid going at that particular time or she can wait for someone to accompany her later. 

And if the father still does not concede then I would suggest that you take these Qur’aan classes online until he agrees. That’s because the father is a girl’s guardian until she gets married and she must obey her father as long as he does not tell her to do something that’s against the rules of the Sharee’ah. 

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

“Before marriage, a woman is under the guardianship of her father, so it is not permissible for her to go out of the house except with his permission, whether it is to go to the masjid or elsewhere, because obedience to one’s father is obligatory so long as it does not involve disobedience towards Allaah. 

We advise you to listen to broadcasts from the Al-Qur’aan Al-Kareem station, because there is much knowledge and sound teaching to be gained from it. May Allaah help you to do all that is good and grant you a sound understanding of Islaam.”

( Fataawaa Al-Lajnah Al-Daa’imah, 12/101)

And Allaah knows best