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What is the ruling on a male security officer touching a woman in the Haram when there is a need for it and no female personnel are available?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"The basic principle is the prohibition of touching the skin of a non-mahram woman. Exceptions to this include necessity or dire need, such as medical treatment or rescue from danger. This is because what was forbidden as a preventative measure (sadd al-dhari'ah) is permitted for an overriding benefit (maslaha rajihah), and the lesser of two evils is committed to avert the greater. Therefore, there is no harm in a woman touching another woman to rescue her from danger or prevent her from falling, if no male security officer or mahram is available. As for apprehending a female suspect, it should ideally be carried out by a woman. Otherwise, she should be stopped and surrounded without touching her, if possible, keeping in mind that what is permitted due to necessity is estimated according to its measure."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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