Is it allowed to shake hands with women if you are out side your country with people who do not know Islam? I travel to Europe and I meet non-Muslim women and when I did not shake hands with them once they thought it is personal and I am afraid that they will have a bad idea about Islam. I asked about this issue and I have been told that if they started to shake hands and you have good intention then go ahead. Please advise the most appropriate way.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We have already clarified the ruling on shaking hands with non-Mahram women in Fatawa 82318 and 84011.

Know that the Muslim should be proud of his religion. So, he should not be ashamed of following the Sunnah overtly enjoining good and avoiding evil. Allah Says (what means): {So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers.} [Quran 3:139]

So, Muslims are superior in creed, method of living, behavior and morals.

So, if for some reason one is obliged to live among non-Muslims for a short or a long period, he should be confident in himself and his way of life. He should be proud of the great religion he follows. In fact, it is the only true religion accepted by Allah.

Since Islam was revealed, no other religion is any longer accepted. It is the last and only religion.

So, what is intended for the Muslim is to influence rather than be influenced. He can influence by practicing his Islamic rituals and duties and by being characterized by the Islamic morals and values. So, the Muslim's personality should not become diminished in these countries with their bad values. The Prophet has warned us against following the Jews and Christians. Imam Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Sa’eed that the Prophet : “You will follow the ways of those nations which were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a hole of a mastigure, you would follow them. We said: “O Allah's Apostle! (Do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?” He said: “Whom else?”

So, what is meant in this Hadeeth is to warn us against following these people or imitating them. But what we notice now in many places is the opposite of what the Prophet has told us. In fact, many Muslims keep on imitating non-Muslims in everything. You would see them (Muslims) shake hands with women, sit with them, and are most of the time driven to doing other more dangerous sins.

For more benefit on Muslims living in non-Muslim countries, please refer to Fatawa 81142, 88291, 377986, 81642, 369667, 81464 and 89879.

Allah knows best.