𝗠𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (36)

Cousin sister?! Question: I have a cousin sister. She is my mother’s brother’s daughter. She’s very close to us. She is two years younger than me and has grown up with us since her childhood, but she wasn’t birthed by my mother. I’m 21 years old and she’s 19 now. I don’t see her as a cousin or a non-mahram and I genuinely see her like my own sister, like one of my real sisters. That’s how close we are. I don’t view her in any inappropriate way and only with the intention and feeling of a sister. As niyyath is very important than anything else, so is it permissible for her not to wear hijab in front of me? Answer: Your cousin — even if she is very close and like a sister to you — is still a non-mahram according to Islam. It is not permissible for a woman to uncover in front of her cousin, because he is not a mahram. It is not permissible for you to treat her as a sister, even if you grew up together, because the mahram status is defined by: (1) blood ties, (2) breastfeeding, or (3) marriage – not by emotional closeness or upbringing. This means: -> There's no such thing as 'cousin brother/cousin sister' -> she is required to wear hijab in front of you. -> It is not permissible to treat her as a mahram. -> Intentions do not make a haram act halal. Shaykh 'Abdul-'Aziz ibn Baz rahimahullah said: "It is my duty to alert people and warn them against the free-mixing of women and non-Mahram (men) in some places and villages. Some ignorant people see that it is alright, being the tradition of their fathers and grandfathers and that their intention is good. One may find a woman sitting with her brother-in-law, cousins, and relatives without a veil..." [Majmu’ Al-Fatawa Ibn Baz, Vol.: 5; pp. 236]