Muslim Dress Code Conditions

Islamic law is comprehensive in its enunciation of a code of conduct with respect to an individual’s life and dealings with others. Part of this are the rules pertaining to dress and attire.According to some fiqh scholars, the clothing must cover the entire body, only the hands and face may remain visible;

# The material must not be so thin that one can see through it.

# The clothing must hang loose so that the shape of the body is not apparent.

# The female clothing must not resemble the man's clothing.

# The design of the clothing must not resemble the clothing of the non-believing women.

# The design must not consist of bold designs which attract attention.

# Clothing should not be worn for the sole purpose of gaining reputation or increasing one's status in society.

The reason for this strictness is so that the woman is protected from the lustful gaze of men. She should not attract attention to herself in any way. It is permissible for a man to catch the eye of a woman, however it is haram (unlawful) for a man to look twice as this encourages lustful thoughts.  

A dress is supposed to serve two purposes:

1. Covering the `Awrah (private parts) of the body.

2. Serving the purpose of adornment and beautification.

Reviewing the Qur’an, we find that Allah, the Almighty, describes the dress of believers as “The Dress of Piety” or Libasut-Taqwa, and this exactly emphasizes the aforementioned two conditions, and stresses that such a dress should never be used for showing off. Almighty Allah says:  

“But the raiment of righteousness, - that is the best.” (Al-`Araaf: 26)

Islam has provided few guidelines to achieve this quality:

1. The first condition is that the dress has to be Halal by its origin, i.e. purchased or owned through Halal earning.

2. The second is that it must not imply imitation of other people’s dress. This means we should not imitate others’ religious attire or style, as the Hadith states:  

“Whoever imitates some people will be ranked among them.” (Irwaa’ul Ghaleel, Al-Albaani, Hadith no. 2384).

3. The third condition is that the dress must not carry any resemblance to women’s dress. This means men’s dress must not involve any kind of feminine style of adornment: pure silk, golden dress, very bright and fast color, are all considered permissible for women, but not for men.

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