Purdah

Travelling with a non-mahram woman

Q: I am a married male attending a course over the weekend as well as a married female who lives in my street and belongs to the same running club. The course location is about 10km away from our houses and she suggested we travel together on Saturday and Sunday to and from to save travelling cost. Is this advisable?

Families travelling together

Q:

1. I am married, I have a sister in-law and brother in-law, they are also married. We all stay in Saudi as neighbours, so is it permissible that we three families go for umrah together in a big car provided all females are fully covered in burqa?

2. Similarly can we three families go on a picnic trip to various tourist attractions provided all females are covered in burqa but obviously the females can see the men of their family through eye opening of niqab if they don't lower their gaze but males can't. so is it permissible to travel together in this manner?

3. Another situation is if all of the three families travel in their personal car but on reaching the destination they unite,but no casual conversation is there between na mahrams of family, each family just enjoy themselves and have fun,only thing is they all go the place same day for a happiness in their personal vehicles, is it permissible to travel in this manner?

Segregation between men and women

Q: Males are seated on one side of a hall and females are seated on another. The tables are arranged such that the backs of the males are facing the backs of the females. There is a distance of four meters between the two. There is no curtain or anything separating the two sides. At any time one can look behind and see ghair mahrams. Both sides can also hear the voices of the other. Prominent Moulana's attend gatherings set-up like this with their wives. The organisers say that since they are separated and no one is forced to look at the other and also that talking to the other side is not possible, it is alright. Is this set up permissible? Please comment.

Screencasts

Q: A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration. It is commonly used in education, both in online courses and software training videos. Only the screen output is shown and nothing else. It is often that the audio narration is done by a woman.

(1) Is it permissible for a male to watch a screencast if the audio narration is done by a woman? Only her voice is heard.

(2) Is it permissible for a female to watch a screencast if the audio narration is done by a male? Only his voice is heard.

(3) Is it permissible for a male to do the audio narration of a screencast if he knows that both men and woman will hear his voice? This would only be for screencasts of a permissible nature and with no animate images.