The Indicator of Realization on Privacy with Non-Maḥrams with an Emphasis on Cyberspace

The extent and the quality of the relationship between men and women is one of the issues that Islām has given special importance to, as it has issued many rules for it. In jurisprudence, these rules have sometimes been presented as obligatory and sometimes as non-obligatory. One of these rules is the prohibition of being alone (khalwat) between non-maḥram men and women. Being alone ‎ means that the non-maḥram men and women must not be alone in a place without the presence of a third person. Being alone with non-maḥrams is forbidden in Islam and some jurists consider it as forbidden (ḥarām) and others as detestable (makrūh). For a long time, being alone with a non-maḥram has had many examples but with the development of technology and the growth of cyberspace, being alone with non-maḥrams in cyberspace has also been added to its examples. By referring to jurisprudential books and examining the conditions for fulfilling the ruling of being alone with non-maḥrams and applying it to cyberspace, the present study has concluded that there are conditions for forbidding being alone with non-maḥram in cyberspace. Therefore, if being alone with non-maḥrams is forbidden in face-to-face situations (based on theoretical differences that exist in this issue), being alone in cyberspace will also be forbidden, and if it is detestable (makrūh) in face-to-face situations it will also be detestable in cyberspace.