I say, and with God's success: There is nothing strange in this time regarding the extraordinary fatwas that have permitted usury, allowed fornication, and contact with women, as well as their going out dressed scantily. This is only due to abandoning the methodology of our predecessors in deriving legal rulings, until these contemporary individuals have appointed themselves as jurists in the Sharia, permitting and prohibiting as they wish without any controls to adhere to. There is no way for anyone who wants to save their religion except to hold on to the ties of Islam that have been transmitted to us through these recognized jurisprudential schools among the Muslim community. The matters of halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden) are significant and must be known through a correct path represented in the well-known jurisprudential schools. In contrast, preaching and reminders can be taken from anyone who has an impact on the heart and soul. Therefore, a person should not take legal rulings from just anyone unless they know that the person adheres to a specific jurisprudential school, such as being Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, or Hanbali; because these are the methodologies for receiving legal rulings throughout the previous centuries. Thus, we can rid ourselves of the chaos and confusion in jurisprudence that we live in today, as many students and people have begun to doubt many legal rulings due to the confusion and uncertainty they see in them. If this is established, then contemporary scholars have stumbled in this issue like others, even breaking the consensus of the ummah. No one is known before Al-Nabahani, Muhammad al-Ghazali, Al-Qaradawi, Abdul Halim Abu Shaqa, and those who followed them, including doctors and others, in saying that it is permissible to shake hands between men and women, as in the ruling on shaking hands with women, pages 165-167, despite the evidence for this being clear and evident to every insightful person. However, our esteemed jurists differentiated between young men and women, old men, and elderly women. The summary of this, along with the evidence, is as follows: First: Shaking hands between a young man and a young woman is not permissible, even if each of them is secure from desire, as stated in Al-Mabsut 10: 155, Al-Bada'i 5: 123, Fath Al-Qadeer 10: 25-26, and Al-Bahr Al-Ra'iq 8: 219, for the following reasons: 1. From Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "When the believing women emigrated to the Messenger of Allah, he would test them with the words of Allah: {O Prophet, when believing women come to you to give you a pledge...} [Al-Mumtahana: 12]... And when the Messenger of Allah acknowledged their words, he would say to them: 'Go, for I have pledged allegiance to you.' By Allah, the hand of the Messenger of Allah never touched the hand of a woman, except that he pledged allegiance to them with words." This is in Sahih Muslim 3: 1489, and Sahih Bukhari 5: 2025. 2. From Umayma bint Raqiqah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "I came to the Messenger of Allah with some women to pledge allegiance to him, and we said: 'We pledge allegiance to you, O Messenger of Allah, on the condition that we do not associate anything with Allah...' The Messenger of Allah said: 'As much as you can and are able.' I said: 'Allah and His Messenger are more merciful to us than ourselves. Come, let us pledge allegiance to you, O Messenger of Allah.' The Messenger of Allah said: 'I do not shake hands with women; my word to a hundred women is like my word to one woman.'" This is in Sahih Ibn Hibban 10: 417, Al-Mujtaba 7: 149, Al-Muwatta 2: 982, and Musnad Ahmad 6: 357. 3. From Ma'qal ibn Yasar, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "It is better for a man to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle than to touch a woman who is not lawful for him." This is in Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir 20: 211, 212, and Musnad Al-Ruyani 2: 323. Al-Mundhiri said in Al-Targhib wa Al-Tarhib 3: 26: The men of Al-Tabarani are trustworthy men of the Sahih. 4. From Tawus, may Allah be pleased with him: "When the Prophet pledged allegiance to the people, he said: 'I do not shake hands with women,' and he did not touch the hand of any woman among them except for a woman he owned." This is in Al-Jami' for Ma'mar ibn Rashid 11: 331, and Musannaf Abdul Razzaq 6: 8, among others. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in Fath Al-Bari 13: 204: This was narrated by Ishaq ibn Rahuyah with a good chain. 5. From Asma bint Yazid, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "I am one of the women whom the Messenger of Allah took a pledge from. I was a young girl, bold enough to ask him, so I said: 'O Messenger of Allah, extend your hand so I can shake it.' He said: 'I do not shake hands with women, but I take from them what Allah has commanded me.'" This is in Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir 24: 163, 180, and in another wording: "She leaned forward and extended her hand to pledge allegiance, but he withdrew his hand and said: 'I do not shake hands with women..." This is in Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir 24: 182. 6. From Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "Every son of Adam will have his share of fornication, the eye's fornication is looking, the hand's fornication is touching, and the soul desires or talks, and the private parts either confirm or deny that." This is in Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 1: 20, and Sahih Ibn Hibban 10: 269, and the motto of the hadith scholars, page 37. Imam Al-Nawawi said in the explanation of Sahih Muslim 16: 206: The meaning of the hadith is that every son of Adam has a share of fornication, some of them commit actual fornication by having unlawful sexual intercourse, and some commit fornication metaphorically by looking at what is unlawful or listening to it, or by touching with the hand, such as touching a non-mahram woman or kissing her. 7. From Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "The eyes commit fornication, the tongue commits fornication, the hands commit fornication, the feet commit fornication, and the private parts either confirm or deny that." This is in Sahih Ibn Hibban 10: 267, Musnad Al-Shashi 1: 381, and Musnad Ahmad 1: 412. Ibn Al-Qattan said in Ahkam Al-Nazar, page 16: This hadith is authentic. 8. From Umm 'Atiyyah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "We pledged allegiance to the Prophet, and he recited to us: {That they do not associate anything with Allah} and forbade us from wailing. One of the women among us withdrew her hand and said: 'So-and-so made me happy, and I want to reward her.' He did not say anything, so she went and then returned." This is in Sahih Bukhari 6: 2637. The commentators of Sahih Bukhari, such as Al-Karmani and Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Fath Al-Bari 13: 204, and Badr Al-Din Al-Ayni in 'Umdat Al-Qari 24: 277, and Al-'Asqalani in Irshad Al-Sari 10: 268, refuted the misconception that the phrase: 'One of the women among us withdrew her hand' refers to shaking hands by touch, meaning that she did not pledge allegiance and withdrew, then returned to pledge allegiance. This is a metaphor and a euphemism for delaying the pledge and acceptance, as in the ruling on shaking hands and touching, pages 122-123. This meaning is supported by Umm 'Atiyyah's statement: 'So she went and then returned,' or they were indicating with their hands during the pledge without touching, or it could have been with a barrier such as a garment or the like. 9. From Umm 'Atiyyah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: "When the Messenger of Allah came to Medina, he gathered the women of the Ansar in a house and sent to us Umar, who stood at the door, greeted us, and we returned his greeting. Then he said: 'I am the messenger of the Messenger of Allah to you.' We said: 'Welcome to the Messenger of Allah and the messenger of the Messenger of Allah.' He said: 'Will you pledge allegiance to me on the condition that you do not associate anything with Allah, do not commit fornication, and do not steal...' We said: 'Yes.' Then he extended his hand from outside the house, and we extended our hands from inside the house, and he said: 'O Allah, bear witness.'" This is in Sahih Ibn Hibban 7: 317, Musnad Al-Bazzar 1: 374, Musnad Ahmad 5: 85, and Sha'ab Al-Iman 7: 21: meaning he extended his hand to them from afar while he was outside the house and they were inside without any handshake or touch, as in the ruling on shaking hands, page 123. 10. The affliction that occurs in looking does not occur in touching, and while looking is permissible for necessity, there is no necessity for touching. Touching incites and stirs desire more than looking does, and permitting the lesser of the two actions does not indicate the permissibility of the greater, as in Al-Mabsut 10: 155, Al-Bada'i 5: 123, Fath Al-Qadeer 10: 25-26, and Al-Bahr Al-Ra'iq 8: 219. Second: If she is an elderly woman who is not desired, then there is no harm in shaking hands with her or touching her hand, or if he is an elderly man who is secure for himself and her, then there is no harm in shaking hands with her. However, if he is not secure that she may desire him, it is not permissible for him to shake hands with her, as it exposes her to temptation, just as it is not permissible for him if he fears for himself; because the prohibition is due to the fear of temptation. If she is among those who are not desired, then the fear of temptation is absent due to the absence of desire, as in Al-Mabsut 10: 155, Al-Bada'i 5: 123, Al-Taqiyyin 6: 18, Al-Hidaya 10: 25, Fath Al-Qadeer 10: 25-26, Al-Bahr Al-Ra'iq 8: 219, and Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar 6: 367-368. This differentiation in ruling between young women and elderly women, young men and elderly men is because Allah, the Exalted, differentiated between them in this matter, permitting elderly women to remove their hijab due to the absence of temptation and desire with them. Allah, the Exalted, said: {And the elderly women who no longer expect marriage, there is no blame upon them for putting aside their outer garments without displaying adornment. But to be modest is better for them.} [An-Nur: 60]. And Allah, the Exalted, permitted women to display their adornment to elderly men, unlike young men, due to the absence of desire and temptation with them. Allah, the Exalted, said: {Or the male attendants who lack physical desire, or the children who are not yet aware of the private aspects of women.} [An-Nur: from verse 31]. As for young girls who do not have desire, it is permissible to touch them and look at them due to the absence of fear of temptation, as in Al-Hidaya 10: 25, and Allah knows best.