Brothers and sisters let us look at the following ayats from our Sacred Book, the Quran:
Quran

2:173-
“He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah . But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

5:03-
“Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah , and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows. That is grave disobedience. This day those who disbelieve have despaired of [defeating] your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin – then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

6:145-
“Say, “I do not find within that which was revealed to me [anything] forbidden to one who would eat it unless it be a dead animal or blood spilled out or the flesh of swine – for indeed, it is impure – or it be [that slaughtered in] disobedience, dedicated to other than Allah . But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], then indeed, your Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.””

16:115-
“He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah . But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit] – then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

Now let’s apply this principle to the handshaking of non-mahram women. Pork is FORBIDDEN yet Allah swt out of His mercy for His slaves has established the above sanction. Now all of us in this forum should now understand that handshaking with non-mahram women(Muslim or non-Muslim) according to the tradition of our illustrious predecessors is considered haram. BUT a concession is given in the event that the issue of necessity is established. Really, Is there need for any further discussion regarding this issue??

AS salaamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu. Once you seek ilm from a scholarly source and receive it..kalas! You have the choice to implement the advice or reject it; at the end of the day, the final decision is yours anyway. Now if a scholar conveys erroneous information that you have humbly implemented YOU WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE by Allah subhana wa Taala. The mistake will be forgiven on both sides by Allah’s mercy. The key though is humility and respect for the scholars as Allah subhana wa Taala has prescribed. If a brother has issues with the opposite sex as he becoming weakened by temptation then he should refrain from touching..it’s that simple! However, there are some brothers who deliberately put themselves in certain situations knowing good and well that they are too weak to handle it and eventually fall flat on their faces (morally). It’s pure common sense in effect here. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly to protect yourself from the fire. We don’t have to argue back and forth with any scholar or anyone whatsoever, but we are obligated to perpetually demonstrate good manners. May Allah pardon us for our misgivings and wrong doing amin. Allah SWT is solely in charge here, don’t ever forget that!

I don’t know, I’m not convinced..

One more thing. If a brother is having a tough time sticking to the deen because he’s shaking hands with a woman, then I think he has other issues. Seriously…think about it.

I think what is even more difficult for brothers to stick to the deen is when you have laymen such as yourself pretending that they know more than scholars. Having a disagreement is one thing, but condemning them and saying they are ignorant (ie. bad fiqh) is arrogance, and showing no proof for your own opinion is stupidity.

Let those who know speak! And let those who don’t know stay silent!

On a tangential note, usually I find americans really accommodating of different cultures and beliefs, especially if they are told up front, but discretely, about it. We have in religions alone orthodox jews, amish, sikh, mormons, buddhists — you name it. And communities who live around them learn their ways and in general respect them.

I guess in the above situation, to sort of explain to the organizers and let the person know your preference about not shaking hands or touching the opposite gender. Americans are pretty cool and would accommodate that.

I’ve actually found Americans get embarrassed and insulted when they discover these things later and say “Why didn’t you tell me!” They feel like they were not trusted enough, and that you intentionally let them make a faux pas. This embarrasses them even more. On the flip side, we all know american non-muslims who are genuinely so pleased when they go around saying “assalaamu alaikum” to their muslim colleagues and neighbors. Americans are an open people, and I think they like to be given the benefit of the doubt.

And I would just like to add that I think that what Sh. Bin Bayyah says about the hardship makes sense. There are fragile situations in which it is more wise to shake the opposite genders hand. We need to also understand that it will most likely be someone who is not Muslims and does not know of the rules of Islam who initiates the shaking of the hand. What I believe is that if there is no realistic possibility of fully explaining why one did not shake their hand, they should simply shake it. For example, when one wins an award, they often shake hands with the sponsors of the award who could very possibly be non-Mahram non-Muslims. You probably never have talked to them before and probably will have minimal if any talk after, certainly not enough to explain why you couldn’t shake their hand (not shaking someones hand could be seen as you degrading them in the US and other countries). We have to look at the logic behind rules in Islam. The principal object is to prevent desire, and a handshake hardly furnishes desire.