Ikhtilat (mixing of things and of men and women)

Ikhtilat (mixing). It is joining one thing to another; where they can be told apart, as with animals, it is joining; where they cannot, as with liquids, it is blending; the jurists' use keeps to this meaning. ¹ Related terms: imtizaj (fusion), joining one thing to another so they cannot be told apart; ikhtilat is the wider term, covering what can and cannot be separated. ¹ General ruling: it varies with the matter. Its effect may be prohibition, by the rule «when the lawful and the forbidden are combined, the forbidden prevails»: if slaughtered meat is mixed with carrion without distinction, nothing may be eaten from it, nor chosen by search except in dire need; search is lawful when the slaughtered meat predominates, as the Hanafis say. If a man's wife is mixed with another woman, he may not have intercourse with either, nor search; likewise one who divorces one of two wives without naming her, so that intercourse is forbidden before she is named. ¹ Its effect may be ijtihad and search (taharri) in most cases: vessels, some pure and some impure, not distinguished, and garments in which pure and impure are mixed, are searched for purity and for wearing, according to the majority; some Hanbalis say there is no search. ² Its effect may be liability: if a depositary mixes the deposit with his own property so it cannot be told apart, he is liable, since the mixing is destruction. It may also void some contracts: one who bequeathed a particular thing and then mixed it with other things in a way that cannot be distinguished has withdrawn the bequest. ² Kinds of mixing: the mixing of men and women. Its ruling depends on whether it conforms to the rules of the law. It is forbidden where it involves seclusion with a stranger and looking at her with desire; the woman's display and lack of modesty; or play, amusement and touching of bodies, as in weddings, festivals and feasts, since it breaks the rules of the law: God's command in al-Nur (30-31) on lowering the gaze, al-Ahzab (53) on the screen; the hadith «no man is alone with a woman, for the third of them is Satan»; and the Prophet ﷺ's word to Asma' bint Abi Bakr: «when a woman reaches menses, nothing of her should be seen but this and this», pointing to his face and hands. ² The jurists agree touching a stranger woman is forbidden, unless she is an old woman who is not desired, when a handshake is permitted. Ibn Farhun said that the testimony of those who attend weddings where men and women mix is not accepted in matters the law forbids, since their presence there removes their probity. ² Excepted from forbidden mixing is what a physician does of looking and touching, since that is a place of necessity, and necessities make forbidden things lawful. ² Mixing is permitted where there is a lawful need, observing the rules of the law: the woman may go out for congregational prayer and the festival prayers, and some allow her to go out for the obligatory hajj with a trustworthy company of men; she may deal with men in sale, purchase and hire. Malik was asked about an elderly unmarried woman who turns to a man who does her needs and hands her things, and said: «there is no harm, and let another enter with him, which I prefer; if people left her, she would be lost»; Ibn Rushd said this is when he lowers his gaze from what is not lawful to look at. ³ Where it is treated: mixing occurs in many matters with its own rulings according to its effect: the mixing of usurped property in usurpation, of the dead of Muslims with others in funerals, of new fruit with old in sales, of livestock in zakat, of the thing sworn over in oaths, and of impure with pure liquids; and details are under gaze, seclusion, mahram and stranger. ³