𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 (410)

Cousin brother/cousin sister? QUESTION: I have a cousin brother. He is my mother’s brother’s son. He’s very close to us. He is two years younger than me and has grown up with us since his childhood, but he wasn’t birthed by my mother. I’m 21 years old and he’s 19 now. I don’t see him as a cousin or a non-mahram and I genuinely see him like my own brother, like one of my real brothers. That’s how close we are. I don’t view him in any inappropriate way and only with the intention and feeling of a sister. As niyyath is verily important than anything else, so is it permissible for me to not wear hijab in front of him? ANSWER: Your cousin — even if he is very close and like a brother 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 her to treat him as a brother, even if they 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' -> You are required to wear hijab in front of him. -> It is not permissible to treat him 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]