Mahram

In Islam, a mahram is a member of one's family with whom marriage or sexual intercourse would be
considered haram (illegal in Islam); from whom purdah, or concealment of the body with hijab, is not
obligatory; and who may serve as a legal escort of a woman during journeys longer than three days.

Contents
Overview
People with whom marriage is prohibited
Legal escorts of women during journey
Rules
Mahram
Gayr mahram (non-mahram)
See also
Reference

Overview

People with whom marriage is prohibited

permanent or blood mahrams include:
all direct ancestors
all direct descendants
siblings
siblings of parents, grandparents and further antecedents
children and further descendants of siblings
in-law mahrams with whom one becomes mahram by marrying someone:
all the ancestors of one's spouse
all the descendants of one's spouse
all who marry a direct ancestor
all who marry a direct descendant

(Note: A woman may marry her stepfather only if the stepfather has not consummated his marriage to her
mother.)

Rada or "milk-suckling mahrams" with whom one becomes mahram because of being
nursed by the same woman:
foster mother and further female ancestors
foster sibling
When a woman acts as a wetnurse (that is she breast feeds an infant that is not her own child for a certain
amount of time under certain conditions), she becomes the child's rada mother and everything concerning
blood mahrams applies here, like rada father/mother, rada sister/brother, rada aunt/uncle and so on. In
English these can be referred to as milk brother, milk-mother, and so on. For a man, mahram women include
his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, grandaunt, niece, grandniece, his father's
wife, his wife's daughter (step-daughter), his mother-in-law, his rada mother and any other rada relatives
that correspond to the above-mentioned blood relatives. As the Prophet said, "What is forbidden by reason
of kinship is forbidden by reason of suckling."[1]

These are considered mahram because they are mentioned in the Quran (An-Nisa 22-23):

"And marry not women whom your fathers married, except what has already passed; indeed it
was shameful and most hateful, and an evil way. Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your
mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts, your maternal aunts, brother's
daughters, sister's daughters, your foster mothers, your sisters from suckling, mothers of your
spouses, your step-daughters from your those spouses you have entered into them but if you
have not entered into them then there is no blame on you, spouses of your sons from your own
loins and that you add two sisters except that has passed; indeed God is forgiving and merciful.

All of the man's female relatives mentioned in these two verses are considered his maharim, because it is
unlawful (haram) for him to marry them, except the wife's sister, whom he can marry if he divorces her
sister, or if his wife dies. The notion of mahram is reciprocal. All other relatives are considered non-
maharim.

Legal escorts of women during journey

A woman may be legally escorted during a by her husband, or by any sane, adult male mahram by blood,
including

her father, grandfather or other male ancestor

her son, grandson or other male descendant
her brother
her uncle, great uncle, or uncle from a previous generation
the son, grandson, or other descendant of her sibling

Rules

Mahram

A Muslim woman's mahramss form the group of allowable escorts when she travels. An adopted brother
who suckled from the mother of the woman is axiomatically a mahram.

A spouse, being mahram is a permanent condition. That means, for example, that a man will remain
mahram to his ex-mother-in-law after divorcing her daughter.

Gayr mahram (non-mahram)

An adopted brother (or adopted sister) of a woman (man) is ghayr mahram to her (him) and they can marry
each other. The term "adopted" means those children who are adopted by one's parents for the purpose of
providing shelter and upbringing and who do not fall under the relationships outlined under the section
"Who is mahram?" above.

One is ghayr mahram to one's ex-spouse.

One must not stay with a ghayr mahram in seclusion where none of their mahrams is present (see also
proxemics).

If wives of a man each become a rada mother of a child, all children and all rada mothers will be mahram
to each other.

See also
Cousin marriage
Hijab
Ḥ-R-M
Incest
Islamic marital jurisprudence

Reference
1. Sahih al-Bukhari, No. 4776 - Narrated Abu Huraira: (http://www.sahihalbukhari.com/sps/sbk/sa
hihalbukhari.cfm?scn=dsphadeeth&HadeethID=4776&txt=suckling)

The Quran, al-Baqara, 2:221

Abdul-Rahman, Muhammad Saed, Islam: Questions and Answers - Jurisprudence and Islamic
Rulings (https://books.google.com/books?id=vZAwBTUqTa4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Abdul-
Rahman,+Muhammad+Saed,+Islam:+Questions+and+Answers+-+Jurisprudence+and+Islamic
+Rulings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEv4-Tz53SAhUEw4MKHaYxAyAQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepa
ge&q=Abdul-Rahman%2C%20Muhammad%20Saed%2C%20Islam%3A%20Questions%20an
d%20Answers%20-%20Jurisprudence%20and%20Islamic%20Rulings&f=false), London: MSA
Publication Limited, 2007, pp. 22–23.
Packard, Gwen K., Coping in an Interfaith Family, New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 1993,
p. 11.

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