Question
If a Muslim woman who doesn’t have a husband, but has sons that are sane and Baaligh, but unable to travel with her due to work.
The Muslim sister is over the age of 60, and is going to be travelling with her sister, her nephew (Non baaligh), her niece and her sisters husband.
The only Mahram in this situation is the Husband of the sister to JUST the sister and niece (who I understand is Ghayr Mahram to the 60 year old sister in question).
Would this journey be permissible in any circumstance due to the presence of the 11 year old nephew and the fact they’re travelling in a group and there’s a Mahram to the sister who is also travelling in the group.
The distance will be over 57.5 miles.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الجواب بعون الملك الوهاب اللهم هداية الحق والصواب
Answer
It is not permissible for any woman, whether old or young, whether traveling in a group or alone, to travel a shar’i distance (i.e., 92 kilometers or more) to any place without her husband or a mahram. The mahram accompanying her must also be sane, adult, and trustworthy. However, a murahiq (i.e., an adolescent boy approaching puberty whose peers have become adult, and whose age is twelve years) – if he is trustworthy – a woman may undertake a shar’i journey with him.
Therefore, in the inquired scenario, a 60-year-old woman cannot undertake a shar’i journey with this group, even if her 11-year-old nephew is present in the group. This is because he is not a murahiq (i.e., approaching puberty).
It is not permissible for a woman to travel without a mahram. As stated in the blessed Hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari:
قال النبی صلى الله عليه و سلم: لا تسافر المرأۃ الا مع ذی محرم
Meaning, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ‘No woman should undertake a shar’i journey except with her mahram.’
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Bab Hajj al-Nisa, vol. 3, p. 19, Dar Tawq al-Najah)
In a shar’i journey, it is necessary for a woman to be accompanied by a sane and adult mahram. As stated in Tanweer al-Absar ma’ Durr al-Mukhtar and other books of Fiqh:
مع (زوج أو محرم)۔۔۔۔ (بالغ) قید لھما۔۔۔۔(عاقل والمراہق کبالغ)
Meaning, in a shar’i journey, it is necessary for a woman to be accompanied by her husband or a mahram, and both of them must be adult and sane, and a murahiq is considered like an adult.
(Tanweer al-Absar ma’ Durr al-Mukhtar, Kitab al-Hajj, vol. 2, p. 464, Matbu’a Beirut, mulqatan)
A woman cannot travel with a non-murahiq child. As stated in Fath al-Qadeer:
ولاتسافر مع عبدها خصيًا كان أو فحلًا وكذا أبوها المجوسي والمحرم غير المراهق، بخلاف المراهق وحده ثلاثة عشر أو اثنتا عشر سنةً
Meaning, a woman cannot travel with her eunuch or non-eunuch slave. Similarly, she cannot travel with her Zoroastrian father or a non-murahiq mahram. This is in contrast to a murahiq, with whom it is legally permissible to travel, the age limit for a murahiq being thirteen or twelve years.
(Fath al-Qadeer, Kitab al-Hajj, vol. 4, p. 399, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut)
Answered by: Tabaruk Madani (AskMufti Scholar)
Verified by: Mufti Sajid Attari
Translated answer
Date: 24th August 2026
