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Fatwa CenterEmploying a Marriageable Woman
Question
I am a medical practitioner. I would like to start a charitable clinic. Can I keep a sister? She will be in a separate room. Injections may have to be given to female patients and keeping male nurse for this is not possible. When patients are not there we will be alone though in separate rooms. Can this problem be solved if I keep a third person say male or female?
Answer
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.
If you are a Mahram to the third lady, then it is permissible to have the female assistant with you. If the man you want to hire is Mahram to the woman working with you, it is also permissible. If not so, then the Muslim scholars differed on this issue. The details are as follows:
1. Imam ash-Shaafi'i’s opinion is that a man staying alone with a group of women is forbidden. Many known Shaafi’i scholars such as Imam al-Haramayn (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques), Al-Juwayni, Al-Qaffaal adopted this view. The Imam of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said the same ruling applies if a woman stays alone with a group of men.
2. Imam An-Nawawi (a scholar of the Shaafi’i School) said: “It is known that a male can be in seclusion with many females even though he is not the Mahram for any of them. This is because the chances of his being tempted become rare; usually women feel shame from other women in this case. But it is forbidden for a man or two men to stay alone with one woman. A quotation from a book on Fiqh (Haashiyatul-Jamal) states: “It is permissible for a man to be in seclusion with two trustworthy women whom he respects. But a group of men staying with only one woman in seclusion is not permissible if there is any chance of committing sin, otherwise it is permissible.
3. According to the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, if there is another trustworthy woman, then it is not considered as staying in forbidden seclusion.
4. A man staying alone with a group of women or a group of men staying with a lone woman is not permissible. This is the opinion of the Hanbali School of jurisprudence.
The preponderant opinion to our knowledge is the opinion of the Hanbali and Shaafi’i Schools of jurisprudence and those who support them. So, we conclude that it is forbidden for a man to stay alone with a marriageable woman under any circumstances, especially in these days when temptation and evil have become common among all people and the religious deterrent has become weaker; men as well as women have become more inclined to committing sins. Nowadays, women see and hear about Zina on a daily basis, making it common to them.
Allah knows best.
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