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Can a muslim woman live alone and not marry?

Q:

Assalamualaikum,

My question is: can a very religious and pious woman live unmarried forever and live in her home with only good intentions (good intentions meaning living alone practicing Islam and not seeing any men or doing haram things that Allah has forbidden)

I look forward to your response. Thank you 🙂

A:

Assalamu Alaykum

Thank you for your question.

It is Makruh to live alone and by yourself. To the extent that many Ahadith have spoken about it.
like this one from Rasulallah (s):

وَ قَالَ أَ لَا أُنَبِّئُکُمْ بِشِرَارِکُمْ قَالُوا بَلَى قَالَ مَنْ أَکَلَ وَحْدَهُ وَ ضَرَبَ عَبْدَهُ وَ مَنَعَ رِفْدَهُ

Meaning: once the Holy Prophet (s) said: should I introduce the worst (or unpleasant or evil) of the people to you?.
The people around him sai: yes!
The Holy Prophet (s): The one who eats alone, one who hits his slaves and the one who denies to Serve or attend to his guests.

usually, the phrase ‘eats alone’ is used to indicate that a person who lives alone, eats alone, and that is not recommended in Islam at all. It doesn’t matter whether the person intending to stay alone is pious, God wary etc
infact, Allah (az) has made a general understanding for all that, living alone is not favored in Islam.

And loneliness is only avoided by marriage. Marriage is a sunnah that is one of the most favourable one in Islam. It holds such emphasis that words follow short to relate it.  for an answer to a similar case kindly refer to the link below:

Will I get gunah if I don’t get married?

 

Kind regards and wishes
N.S.Jaffery