Dancing: Is Dancing Without Music in Women-Only Gatherings Permissible?

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Dancing: Is Dancing Without Music in Women-Only Gatherings Permissible?

English:

Question #1161:

Is dancing without music in women’s gatherings ḥarām or ḥalāl? If it is ḥarām, should those present leave?

Answer #1161:

If a woman’s dancing among women is categorised as as lahw - e.g. the woman’s gathering becomes a dancing gathering, it is problematic and should be – by obligatory caution – avoided. It is also ḥarām if dancing entails sexual excitation, the commission of a ḥarām act, or leads to bad effects. Accordingly, leaving the party as a kind of protest against the ḥarām act is obligatory if it is a case of forbidding evil.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Dancing