Question:

Assalaamu ‘alaikum

Is it permissible for a lady to wear clothing that is partially transparent at home in front of the maid and children? When I say ‘partially transparent’, I mean her skin and underwear can be clearly seen.

Also, what does the sharee‘ah say about such conduct and dressing?

Jazakallah

Answer:

Bismihi Ta‘ala

Wa ‘alaikumus salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barkaatuh

Respected Sister in Islam

One of the most fundamental qualities of imaan is hayaa. The protection of imaan depends greatly upon the protection of hayaa. If hayaa is lost, one’s imaan will be in great danger. This is the crux of what is mentioned in many ahaadeeth.

One of the severe plots of Shaitaan is to denude humans. This plot of his continues from the inception of humans to this day with ever-increasing intensity. When a woman continues to appear before her children in the type of clothing described, it leads to a breakdown of her own hayaa as well as the hayaa of her children.

Initially, the deception will be that the children are still very small. However, by the time they have grown, her hayaa will have been damaged to such a point that she will have no inhibition in continuing to wear such garments in their presence. It will also soon affect her attire in the presence of others. Even if the garments that she wears in the presence of others are not transparent, she will wear tight fitting garments which have a similar shameless end-result whereby her entire figure is clearly discernible.

Let alone appearing in front of one’s father, brother or son in such sordid attire, it is in fact extremely shameless and disgusting to appear even in the presence of other women in this manner. However as the hayaa degenerates further, many think nothing about appearing in front of even non-mahrams with such shameless attire.

In any case, the starting point of the decay was the deception of “indoors”, that as long as one is indoors then one may dress in any manner, regardless of the presence of children and others at home. The only relaxation in this regard is where a woman is in complete privacy with her husband at home. As for dressing in such a manner in the presence of even one’s own children who may still be infants, this must be totally refrained from.

May Allah Ta‘ala bless us and the entire Ummah with true hayaa.

Answered by:

Uswatul Muslimah Panel of ‘Ulama