Is it permissible to speak with unbelieving women for the purpose of inviting them to Islam, and to promise them marriage if they embrace Islam, and to joke with them to win their affection, and to look at their faces and hair without lustful desire?

A man is permitted to invite women to Islam, provided that he adheres to Islamic guidelines and avoids anything that could lead to fitna (temptation or discord), such as jesting or unlawful gazing. It is more prudent, however, for women to invite other women. There is no harm in proposing marriage to a woman if she embraces Islam, for the mahr (dowry) of Umm Sulaym to Abu Talhah was his conversion to Islam.