Is It Permissible for a Grown Woman to Sleep in the Same Room or on the Same Bed as Her Mahrams?

Often, a situation arises in Muslim families where a separate room or private space for a Muslim woman is not available—either in the house she lives in or in a temporary arrangement she has come to, such as during travel or while staying in the home of relatives. A common misunderstanding is that she may only share a room with a female and not with her adult mahram. In reality, Islam not only allows a woman to sleep in the same room with her male mahram, but even on the same bed, provided they each have separate covers.

Sayyiduna ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (RA) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Tell your children to pray when they are seven years old, and strike them (lightly) if they do not do so when they are ten years old, and separate them in their beds.”

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 495)

The scholars agree that “separate them in their beds” means either providing them with separate beds or ensuring that they each have their own cover/blanket/duvet even if they share the same mattress. There is no distinction of gender here: an adult sister may not sleep with her adult sister on the same bed under a single blanket. The bed, of course, would not be a narrow single bed but a double bed made for two people.

It does not matter whether the male mahram is someone very familiar—such as a brother with whom she grew up—or someone whose mahram status has only recently been established, such as a father-in-law she had never met prior to her marriage. She may sleep in the same room, or on the same bed with separate covers, with any of them. The foundation of the mahram relationship in Islam is not based on familiarity, emotional closeness, or prior acquaintance, but purely on the legal, fixed, and permanent prohibition of marriage.

IIt is permissible for a woman to be alone with her male mahram. In fact, it is both natural and the normative Islamic practice, as indicated by the following hadith::The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "A man must not be alone with a woman except in the presence of a Mahram." [Sahih al-Bukhari, 5233]. She is permitted to travel alone with him in a car, or to stay with him during travel—whether during ʿUmrah, Ḥajj, or any trip within or outside the country. In such cases, arranging separate hotel rooms can be expensive and may even be unsafe in certain locations. Often, hotel rooms have two small beds. If only one double bed is available, she may sleep on the same bed with him, provided they use separate covers.

In such situations, she is fully permitted to wear relaxed clothing in his presence within the hotel room, such as sleeping attire or a long shirt extending from the chest to the ankles or mid-calf. If necessary, she may even expose her breasts in the room with him for legitimate purposes, such as breastfeeding her infant.