Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Karim Yahya, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I teach a lesson and one of my students asked if it was permissible to ride in a car with her male cousin. They are close in age. Does it become permissible to ride in the car alone together if she sits in the back seat and he drives? Also, is it permissible for them to go to a public restaurant together to have dinner just as friends?
Answer:
In The Name of Allah, Most Merciful and compassionate
The cousin is not unmarriageable kin in the sight of The Sacred law. It is not permissible to do anything with ones cousin that is not permissible to do with anyone else who is not ones unmarriageable kin.
And Allah knows best and He alone gives success (tawfiq).