Published On Dec 10, 2023
This video is an extract taken from Musa's appearance on James Whale Unleashed' (09/12/23) on TalkTV.
A womanâs mahram is a person whom she is never permitted to marry because of their close blood relationship (such as her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc., and her son, grandson, great-grandson, etc., her paternal and maternal uncles, her brother, brotherâs son and sisterâs son), or because of breastfeeding (such as the brother and husband of the woman who breastfed her), or because they are related by marriage (such as the motherâs husband, the husbandâs father, grandfather, etc., and the husbandâs son, grandson, etc.). More details on this subject are given below:
Mahrams by ties of blood
These are the ones mentioned in Surah al-Nur, where Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
â⌠and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbandâs fathers, or their sons, or their husbandâs sons, or their brothers or their brotherâs sons, or their sisterâs sonsâŚâ [al-Nur 24:31]
The mufassirin said: the womanâs male mahrams by ties of blood, as stated clearly in this verse or inferred by it are as follows:
the womanâs forefathers, no matter how far back the line of ascent goes through her father and her mother, such as her fatherâs forefathers and her motherâs forefathers. As for her husbandâs forefathers, they are her mahrams by marriage, as we shall see below.
her sons, which includes her childrenâs children, no matter how the line of descent goes and whether they are descended from males or females, such as her sonsâ sons and her daughtersâ sons. As for her âhusbandâs sonsâ mentioned in the ayah, these are the husbandâs sons from other wives, and these are her mahrams by marriage, not by blood, as we shall see below.
her brothers, whether they are her brothers through both the mother and father, or through the father only or the mother only.
the children of her siblings, whether they are descended through the males or females, such as the sons of her sisterâs daughters.
paternal uncles and maternal uncles. They are mahrams by blood even though they are not mentioned in the ayah, because they are like parents and are regarded by people as having the same status as parents, and a paternal uncle may be called a father. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
âOr were you witnesses when death approached Yaâqub (Jacob)? When he said unto his sons, âWhat will you worship after me?â They said, âWe shall worship your Ilah (God â Allah) the Ilah (God) of your fathers, Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismaâil (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac)âŚâ [al-Baqarah 2:133]. Ismaâil was the paternal uncle of the sons of Yaâqub.
(Tafsir al-Razi, 23/206; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 12/232, 233; Tafsir al-Alusi, 18/143; Fath al-Bayan fi Maqasid al-Quran by Siddiq Hasan Khan, 6/352)