Dear Hadi,
Dear Reader,
Thanks very much for your question. We understand the circumstances of your question and will give you our best advice.
In our opinion, and God knows best, we do not believe this living arrangement is okay. The man in this scenario would not be considered a “mahram” to the woman in the scenario. The term “mahram” means a person with whom marriage would be permanently forbidden e.g. aunt and nephew; uncle and niece; brother and sister; stepson and stepmother. In a “mahram” relationship, the man and woman can more freely interact, but of course, in a way that remains Islamically appropriate.
So based on the information you’ve shared, there is no mahram relationship and so the man and woman living together would create a situation of khulwa (being in seclusion with someone of the opposite sex who is not a mahram). This is considered prohibited based on both Quran and hadith. The verse used to prohibit this is Quran 17:32, “And do not even come close to zina …” The thinking is that living in a state of khulwa creates an easy path to approaching zina (illicit sexual relations). The hadiths used to underpin the prohibition include the following: “No man should be alone with a woman except when her mahram is with her” (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim), and “No man is alone with a woman but that Shaytan is the third of them” (Tirmidhi).
If the man and woman in your scenario want to live together in order to help with the woman’s daughter, then we would recommend that they consider marriage. If the fact that each of them has been divorced twice is making them hesitant, then they could also consider some sort of prenuptial agreement that would clarify each’s expectations and secure each’s rights in the event of divorce.
In peace.