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Does a woman's touching a non-mahram man—even without desire or by mistake—invalidate her prayer for forty days?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible for a man to touch a non-mahram woman, or vice versa, if done intentionally, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "For one of you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle is better for him than to touch a woman he is not permitted to touch." However, if the touching occurs unintentionally, there is no sin in it. There is no evidence that touching a non-mahram invalidates the prayer or affects its acceptance.

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

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