Q&A: Women’s Dress | Sheikh Ata’ Abu Rashtah

Questions:

1. Asalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatahu. Our Sheikh and Ameer, may Allah grant him dignity, and protect and guard him, and grant him the victory to make this Deen the strongest. Ameen.

Our dear sheikh I would like to have the topic clarified for what is allowed for a woman to wear in front of foreign men from her relatives in the private life, for example her non mahram relatives like her paternal and maternal male cousins and brothers-in- law... Is it allowed for her to wear a blouse and trousers in front of them as an example?

Jazakum Allah Khair and may Allah bring the supported victory by your hands to this Ummah by establishing the Khilafah upon the method of the Prophethood.

From Talal Fawzi

2. Is wearing a wig or having hair extensions not considered as what was mentioned in the hadeeth of the "al-Wasila and Mustawsila"? Jazakum Allah Khair.

From Blugak Murami

3. Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatahu,

My dear brother: There is a trend here which is women wear the jilbab that comes down to the knee, and wear trousers underneath, is this permissible?

From Mosa Za

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Answers:

Wa Alaikum us Salaam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatahu,

Your questions are related in subject, this is why I will sum them up in one answer:

1. In the private life, the woman lives with her husband and mahram relatives. As for when non-mahram relatives like the maternal and paternal male cousins who come to visit their female relative for kinship ties (silatul rahm) to greet them for Eid and the like... then it is not allowed for the woman to meet them in her house unless her 'Awra is covered and that she is not in a state of Tabarruj (revealing her charms). Wearing trousers is Tabarruj, so it is not allowed for the woman to wear trousers in front of non mahram relatives who come to visit for kinship ties or Eid greetings.

2. If a woman goes outside her house into the public life then she must wear the Shar'i dress which fulfils three matters:

Her 'Awra must be covered.

She must not be in a state of Tabarruj.

She needs to wear a Jilbab and Khimar.

3. Jilbab is a wide (loose) dress that covers the home clothes underneath and it is a wrap or an overcoat, it drapes and covers the feet. Allah سبحانه وتعالى:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ

"Oh Prophet tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (jalabeeb) all over their bodies"

(Al-Ahzab: 59)

So the women should wear on top of their clothes a sheet or a wrap that drapes down. Therefore it is required that the jilbab must be drape down to cover the feet because Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the verse:

يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ

"to draw their cloaks all over their bodies"

This is because the preposition (min) here is not partitive but explanatory i.e. if the feet were covered by socks or shoes, this does not negate the fact that the jilbab has to be seen as draping down and it must not be said that since the feet are covered here it is therefore not necessary for the jilbab to drape down. I.e. it must be apparent that the jilbab is draping down so that it is recognised as the public life's dress that women are obliged to wear. And the draping criteria in the verse "yudneena" must be fulfilled. Therefore if the woman wears a trouser in the public life, and wears a Jilbab that reaches the knee on top of the trouser and it does not drape down to cover her feet even though they are covered with socks, then this does not fulfil the shar'i requirements of the jilbab.

And it is not allowed for a woman to go outside in the public life except by wearing a jilbab that covers her home clothes underneath, and that they are draping down to her feet. If she does not find one then she cannot go outside unless she borrows one from her neighbour, this is due to the hadith by the authority of Muslim in his Sahih and narrated by Umm Attiya (ra) who said:

 أَمَرَنَا رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، أَنْ نُخْرِجَهُنَّ فِي الْفِطْرِ وَالْأَضْحَى، الْعَوَاتِقَ، وَالْحُيَّضَ، وَذَوَاتِ الْخُدُورِ، فَأَمَّا الْحُيَّضُ فَيَعْتَزِلْنَ الصَّلَاةَ، وَيَشْهَدْنَ الْخَيْرَ،وَدَعْوَةَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ، قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ إِحْدَانَا لَا يَكُونُ لَهَا جِلْبَابٌ، قَالَ: لِتُلْبِسْهَا أُخْتُهَا مِنْ جِلْبَابِهَا

"The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم ordered us to bring out the young women, the menstruating women, and the veiled women for the two Eid Festival. The menstruating women were to keep away from the prayer, yet witness the goodness and the dawah (address) to the Muslims. I asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what about one who does not have a jilbab?" He said: "Let her use the jilbab of her sister."

4. Wearing a wig is considered from Tabarruj. This is why a woman is not allowed to go out to the public life while wearing a wig, unless she wears a khimar to conceal it and it does not leave any signs obvious to the on lookers.

It is also not allowed for her to wear it in her house in front of her non mahram relatives because it is Tabarruj as we have mentioned.

As for if the wig is what is meant by the wasila and mustawsila (the one who adds the hair extension to someone and the one who has it added to her hair) then it is not so, because the wasl is when a hair extension is added to the hair to increase its length and not to wear a wig on top of the hair. But attaching the hair extension with the hair to make it longer is what is haram to do even if the woman was inside the confines of her own house because of the hadith by the authority of Bukhari and narrated by Abu Huraira(ra) that the the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

لَعَنَ اللَّه الوَاصِلَةَ وَالمُسْتَوْصِلَةَ

 "Allah has cursed the wasila and mustawsila."

As for the wig she can wear it in front of her husband and mahram relatives inside her house only.

It is not allowed to wear it in front of non mahram because it is Tabarruj.

Your brother,

Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah

30 Shawwal 1434 AH

06 September 2013 CE