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The question

Is a girl's textual conversation, at 18 years of age, with her male and female cousins (paternal and maternal), who are older than her, for the purpose of reassurance and alleviating distress, considered forbidden or akin to a private meeting (khalwa)?

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Source: FtawySummary from Ftawy's records · added here Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

Islam has set boundaries for a woman's interaction with non- men, whether they are relatives or strangers, and has emphasized these restrictions particularly with relatives to prevent pretexts and avert fitna (strife/temptation). Therefore, it is impermissible to expand conversation with non-mahram relatives to the extent of joking, whether through direct verbal communication or in writing, because writing can be a cause for fitna. Writing is not considered (private seclusion); khalwa is a gathering where suspicion cannot be dispelled, referring to the physical gathering of bodies, and it is negated by the presence of a barrier. However, this does not prevent writing from being a pretext for fitna.

Summary from Ftawy's records · added here

Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.

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Where this answer came from
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Ftawy
Original fatwa ID
149853
Added here
. This is when the answer was added to El Fatwa, not the fatwa's date.
Text
Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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Read the full answer on Ftawy