How to Deal with Women Fighting According to Islamic Law
I faced a situation that I did not know how to handle. As I was leaving school, I saw two girls fighting and hitting each other. I did not know whether to leave them or stop them from fighting, even though stopping them would require touching them strongly.
Praise be to Allah.
Women fighting and quarreling with their hands is an evil that must be denounced by whoever is able to do so. This is based on what Muslim (49) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; if he cannot, then with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith."
Whoever sees two women fighting should denounce them with his tongue. If they do not respond, he should separate them with a stick or something similar. If he cannot find that, then it seems permissible to separate them with his hand even if that requires holding their arms or hands, to ward off the greater evil.
One of the principles of Islamic law is that it is permissible to commit the lesser of two evils to avoid the greater one. For this reason, it is permissible to treat a woman medically when necessary even if that requires touching. It is known that fighting may lead to damage to an organ or organs, and the evil of that is greater than the evil of looking or touching.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Whatever is forbidden as a means to something else is permitted for a prevailing interest, as in the case of interest in cases of necessity, and as in the case of those who have a reason to pray after dawn and before sunset, and as in the case of looking at a prospective spouse or a witness or a doctor or a trader from among those who are forbidden to look at, and likewise the prohibition of gold and silk for men is forbidden as a means of resembling the cursed women who do it, and whatever is needed from it is permitted" (end quote from "I'lam al-Muwaqqi'een" 2/161).
Dr. Muhammad Siddeeq al-Barnu said in "The Encyclopedia of Jurisprudential Rules" (8/516) in explaining the rule: "Whatever is forbidden to look at is forbidden to touch by way of priority": "Some of the exceptions to this rule are:
The treating doctor is allowed to touch and look at the organ that needs treatment from the woman, but only as much as necessary, on the condition that there is no female doctor who can do that work.
Another example is: a woman who is about to drown, it is permissible for a man who is not related to her to touch her body and carry her to save her. Because the door of necessities is an exception" (end quote).
If the man fears temptation or falling into sin, then he should suffice with denouncing them with his tongue and leave the separation between them to any woman passing by on the road.
And Allah knows best.
Source:https://islamqa.info