Question:
The Prophet (PBUH) said: إِنِّي لاَ أُصَافِحُ النِّسَاءَ ‘Indeed I dont shake hands with women’.
Al-Bukhariyy, narrates from Lady ^A`ishah that the Prophet didnt shake hands with women.
قَالَ لَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَدْ بَايَعْتُكِ كَلاَمًا وَلاَ وَاللَّهِ مَا مَسَّتْ يَدُهُ يَدَ امْرَأَةٍ قَطُّ فِي الْمُبَايَعَةِ مَا يُبَايِعُهُنَّ إِلاَّ بِقَوْلِهِ قَدْ بَايَعْتُكِ عَلَى ذَلِكِ
means: “the prophet said to a lady, Ive accepted your pledge of allegiance by speech & by Allah. his hand never touched any lady during that pledge to him’”
He never touched a marriageable woman & explicitly prohibited men from having unlawful contact with women.
لأَنْ يُطْعَنَ أَحَدُكُمْ بِحَدِيْدَةٍ فِىْ رَأْسِهِ خَيْرٌ لَهُ مِنْ أَنْ يَمَسَّ امْرَأَةً لاَ تَحِلُّ لَهُ means: if one of you is stabbed in his head, is better than touching a marriageable woman thats not lawful to him. Narrated by At-Tabaraaniyy, book Mu^jam Al-Kabeer & Al-Bayhaqiyy in shu-^abul eemaan.
Answer:
See here . Also see this documentation on Habashi sect: “Exposing Abd Allah al-Harari and his sect the Ahbash of Lebanon (AICP)”.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
