By: Dr. Yusuf Al Qardawi

The Dress of the Muslim Woman
Islam makes it haram for women to wear clothes which fail to cover the body and which are transparent, revealing what is underneath. It is likewise haram to wear tightly fitting clothes which delineate the parts of the body, especially those parts which are sexually attractive.

Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger, of Allah (peace be on him) said, I will not be a witness for two types of people who are destined for the Fire: people with whips, like the tails of cows, who beat the people (i.e., tyrannical rulers who are the enemies of their own people), and women who, although clothed, are yet naked, seducing and being seduced, their hair styled like the tilted humps of camels. These will not enter the Garden nor will its fragrance even reach them, although its fragrance reaches a very great distance. (Reported by Muslim.)

The Prophet (peace be on him) described such women as being clothed, yet naked, since their clothing, being transparent and fine, does not do the job of conceling the body but is rather intended to reveal it; such is the dress of the women of our time. The Prophet (peace be on him) likened their hair-style to the hump of a special breed of camel (bakht) which has very large humps, because they put up their hair in a beehive shape from the middle of their heads. It is as if the Prophet (peace be on him) were looking beyond the centuries to the present age, when dressing the hair of women and styling it in variety of shapes has become a profession dominated by men who charge top prices for their work. And this is not all. Many women, not satisfied with what Allah gave them in the way of natural hair, buy wigs made of artificial hair to add to their own in order to increase its body, beauty, and luster, imagining that this renders them better looking and more sexually attractive.

The astonishing thing about this hadith is the connection of political oppression with moral laxity. This connection is borne out by facts, since it is the way of rulers to keep people preoccupied with their personal desires and lusts so that they have no time to think about public affairs.

Concerning Woman’s Imitating Man and Vice Versa
The Prophet (peace be on him) declared that a woman should not wear a man’s clothing nor a man a woman’s. He cursed men who imitate women and women who imitate men. (Reported by al-Bukhari and others.) Aspects of such imitation include the manner of speaking, walking, dressing, moving and so on.

The evil of such conduct, which affects both the life of the individual and of society, is that it constitutes a rebellion against the natural ordering of things. According to this natural order, there are men and there are women, and each of the two sexes has its own distinctive characteristics. However, if men become effeminate and women masculinized, this natural order will be reversed and will disintegrate.

Among those who are cursed by Allah and His angels, both in this world and in the Hereafter, the Prophet (peace be on him) has mentioned the man whom Allah has made a male but who becomes effeminate by imitating women, and a woman whom Allah has made a female but who becomes masculinized by imitating men. (Reported by al-Tabarani.)

For this reason the Prophet (peace be on him) forbade men to wear fabric decorated with large, loud, or bold designs. In his Sahih, Muslim reported ‘All as saying, The Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) forbade me the wearing of a gold ring, a silken garment, and clothing with bold designs.

Muslim also reports a hadith from Ibn ‘Umar, who said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) saw me wearing two garments having bold designs, and he said, “This is what unbelievers wear. Do not wear such things.”

Dressing for the Sake of Ostentation and Pride
The general rule for the enjoyment of the good things of life, such as food, drink, and clothing, is that their use should be without extravagance or pride.

Extravagance consists of exceeding the limits of what is beneficial in the use of the halal, while pride is something related to the intention and the heart rather than to what is apparent. Pride is the intention to look superior and above others, and Allah does not love any proud boaster. (57:23) The Prophet (peace be on him) said: “On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will not look at the person who trails his robe behind him out of pride.” (Agreed upon by Bukhari and Muslim.)

In order to avoid even the suspicion of pride, the Prophet (peace be on him) forbade Muslims to wear garments of “fame” that is, clothes which are worn in order to impress others and which generate competition in vain and idle pursuits. According to a hadith, On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will clothe the one who wears garments of fame with the garments of humiliation. (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Daoud, al-Nisai, and Ibn Majah.)

A man asked Ibn ‘Umar, “What kind of clothes shall I wear?” Ibn ‘Umar replied, “Such as would neither invite the scorn of the weak-minded (because of their being cheap and ugly) nor the blame of the wise (because of their being immoderately expensive).” (Reported by al-Tabarani.)

Going to Extremes in Beautification by Changing What Allah Created
Islam denounces such excesses in beautifying oneself as require altering one’s physical features as Allah created them. The Qur’an considers such alterations as inspired by Satan, who …will command them (his devotees) to change what Allah has created… (4:119)

The Prohibition of Tattooing, Cutting the Teeth, and Undergoing Surgery for Beautification
Among such excesses are tattooing and shortening the teeth. The Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) cursed the tattooer and the one who is tattooed, the shortener of teeth and the one whose teeth are shortened. (Reported by Muslim.)

As far as tattooing is concerned, it permanently disfigures the face and other parts of the body with blue pigment and repulsive designs. Some Arabs, especially women, were in the habit of tattooing large portions of their bodies, while people of certain religious sects tattooed pictures of their deities or religious rituals on their hands and chests. To all these abominations is added the pain and agony which the person being tattooed must undergo from the pricking of the needles. Because all of this, both the tattooer and the one who is tattooed have been cursed.

As for cutting or shortening the teeth, the Prophet (peace be on him) cursed both the men and the women who do it and the women who request it. If a man does it, he merits an even greater curse. Similarly, the Prophet (peace be on him) prohibited widening the spaces between the teeth, and he cursed …Women who widen the gaps between their own or others’ teeth for the sake of beauty, changing what Allah has created.

Now, Allah obviously created some women with gaps between their teeth and others without. Some women who have no such gaps desire to create them artificially, either by filing or by cutting away parts of the adjoining teeth. Islam considers this a form of deception and excessive involvement with personal beauty, both of which it discourages.

From these ahadith of the Prophet (peace be on him), we also know the ruling of the Islamic Shari’ah concerning plastic surgery. Surgeries for beautification are in vogue today as the result of the materialistic outlook of Western civilization, a civilization stressing the body and its desires. Men and women spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to reshape their noses or breasts, or whatever they consider misshapen. This behavior most certainly belongs in the category of excessive beautification, unnecessarily changing what Allah has created, and it merits the curse of Allah and His Prophet (peace be on him). It likewise involves torture, pain, and waste of money merely for the sake of one’s appearance; it is, moreover, an expression of an individual’s preoccupation with form rather than substance, with body rather than with spirit.

It may happen that a person has an unusual physical defect which attracts the attention of others to the point of inflicting physical and psychological pain every time he meets people. In this case, he may treat the defect and thus alleviate the embarrassment which made his life miserable. Allah the Most Merciful has imposed no hardship on us in religion…. (Al Bahee al-Khooly, Al Mar’ah Bain al-Bait wal-Mujtama’, 2nd edition, p. 105.)

This statement is perhaps supported by the hadith concerning widening the gap between the teeth for the sake of beautification, for what is disapproved here is doing this merely for the sake of achieving good looks and artificial beauty. However, if it is needed to eliminate pain or distress, there is nothing wrong with it; but Allah knows best. (to be cont.)