What is meant by “a day and a night’s journey” in the noble Hadith, “It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel a day and a night’s journey unless she is accompanied by a mahram”? Is the Hadith definitive or speculative in its indication? And does it apply to a woman traveling alone by plane from one Muslim country to another, if her husband bids her farewell and her brother receives her?

The prohibition of a woman traveling without a mahram (definition) came in an absolute sense. Scholars have agreed that any journey, regardless of its duration—be it three days, two days, one day, a bareed, or otherwise—is forbidden for a woman without her husband or a mahram. The proof for this is the absolute narration from Ibn Abbas: "A woman shall not travel except with a mahram." Consensus has been narrated on the prohibition of a woman traveling without a mahram, with the exceptions of traveling for Hajj and Umrah (definition), leaving the land of shirk (definition), or escaping captivity. It is not permissible for a woman to travel without a mahram from one Muslim country to another Muslim country.