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Is sitting next to a woman in public transportation, with unintended, non-lustful touching occurring, and no alternative available, considered forbidden or permissible due to necessity? And does the same ruling apply to sitting next to a girl who is not more than ten years old?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible for a man, whether married or unmarried, to sit next to a non-mahram woman in such a way that his body touches hers, as this is a cause of fitna (temptation) and arouses desires. Satan exploits such opportunities. This act is not permissible under the pretext of necessity.

As for sitting next to a young girl, if she has reached the age of desirability, then her ruling is the same as that of an adult female. However, if she has not reached puberty and has not reached the age of desirability, there is no harm in sitting next to her if temptation is safe. If a person fears the arousal of his desires, then it is not permissible for him to sit, because touching with lust is forbidden even for a newborn baby. It is preferable to treat a girl who has reached the age of seven as an adult, as a precautionary measure to prevent temptation.

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

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