Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
A Muslim is not to look at a non-mahram (marriageable) woman, as this would mostly lead to entailing lust and bad thoughts.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
We are not allowed to make comments on the beauty of women who are not related to us in blood or marriage. Nor are we allowed to continue to stare or look at them, for such actions may entail lustful thoughts or whisperings of devil.
It is said looks are arrows of devil. Jabir bin `Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “I asked Allah’s Messenger (may Allah be pleased with him) about (the Islamic ruling of) accidental glance (i.e., at a woman) and he said, ‘Turn your eyes away.’” (Muslim)
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.