Chapter Four
Rulings Specific to Dress and Ḥijāb

First: The Lawful Style of Dress for the Muslim Woman

1 – A Muslim woman’s clothing must be ample, covering her entire body from the gaze of men who are not her maḥram relatives. In front of her maḥrams she may uncover only what customarily appears—her face, hands, and feet.

2 – The garment must be opaque, concealing whatever lies beneath it; it must not be sheer so that the color of her skin is visible through it.

3 – It must not be tight-fitting, outlining the shape of her limbs. In Sahih Muslim the Prophet ﷺ said: “There are two categories of the people of Hell whom I have not yet seen: a people who have whips like the tails of cattle with which they strike others, and women who are clothed yet naked, swaying and leading others to sway, their heads like the humps of crooked camels. They will not enter Paradise, nor even smell its fragrance, though its fragrance can be perceived from such-and-such a distance.” Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) states in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā (22/146): “The Prophet’s phrase ‘clothed yet naked’ was explained as a woman wearing something that does not truly cover her. She is, outwardly, dressed, yet in reality naked—such as one who puts on a thin garment that shows the color of her skin, or a tight garment that reveals….”