Gender and Merit: Criticizing Talking with Women in Traditions (Hadiths)

In some hadiths, it is narrated that talking with women may cause dejection. Since the apparent perception of such traditions may imply the subjugated status of women, examining such hadiths is of vital importance. The present study, after examining the texts and documents of these kind of traditions, and considering the fact that numerous narrations may enhance the possibility of quoting the tradition, came to this conclusion that some quotations of this hadith contain sound documents. Inspecting the evidence and indications of the text, including studying the use of the word combination” al- hadith ma’a al- nesa”, ‘talking with women’, or “mohadetha al- nesa”, ‘conversation with women’, indicates that this expression refers to the imprudence of the relationship between Mahram, “close relative”, and Non- mahram, “non close relative”, and verbal communication of men with strange women. Other terms are also used to convey this meaning. Therefore, these kinds of traditions are to warn the vulnerability of men while talking and communicating with strange women, and is narrated to point to the negative influence on their moral and spiritual aspects; so “al-nesa” does not refer to mahram women. Moreover, the meanings of some hadiths are inadvertently altered; yet, their correct quotations can be obtained through contextual evidence.