Fathwa, - Living with an Elderly Lady - Khalwa?

Question:
I am in a situation where it may be possible for my family and I to
live with my friend�s grandmother who is over 75, and like my mother.
The issue is that there may be long periods of time (though not
overnight) where my young son and I would be alone in the house with
this elderly lady when my wife is out.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious and Merciful
Asslamu alaikum,
There would be nothing wrong with living with your friend�s mother,
given that she is elderly, in the Hanafi school. Rather, if the
intention is also to help take care of an elderly lady, there would be
reward in this.
In the Hanafi school, it is permitted for a man to be alone with an
elderly woman who is no longer attractive (`ajuz shawha'), as long as
there is no fear of the untoward from either side. [Ibn Nujaym,
al-Ashbah wa'l Nadha`ir; Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Ibn Abidin, Radd
al-Muhtar] It is reasonable to consider a lady who is in her 70s to be
'an elderly woman who is no longer attractive'.
As an aside:
It is also not a prohibited seclusion (khalwa muharrama) if the woman
is not elderly but each person remains in a different room of a house,
as long as the abovementioned fear does not exist. [ibid.] However, in
this situation, care and caution must be exercised, and it is a
situation which is not generally considered 'dignified'. A child does
not lift the state of prohibited seclusion.
And Allah alone gives success.