Prohibition of women wearing trousers and the cause of the decline in clothing.

The Shaykh : And there are clothes – also – that are all evil and calamity, like trousers. Trousers are not permissible for a woman, because they are the clothing of males. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the women who imitate men. And it is amazing that the fatwa is issued by the scholars, but the people do not care. The fatwa was issued by His Eminence Shaykh Abdul Aziz ibn Baz, the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, and by other shaykhs, and by the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta, and yet the people do not care about this. Then they make excuses, these people: that the woman only wears trousers at home or in front of her husband or the like. The operative cause is not merely that it reveals the size of the woman, revealing her thighs and legs. No, that is not the operative cause. The operative cause is that it is the clothing of males, so a woman’s wearing it is imitating the man. And if the scholars in this land, who are the leaders of the scholars of the land, if I may not say the leaders of the scholars of the Islamic world, tell the people: this is forbidden, but the people do not care, then it is a matter of regret. If the people do not obey their scholars, who are the leaders of the land in explaining the Shari'ah, then whom will they obey?! If they refer to their scholars in matters of prayer, zakah, fasting, and Hajj, why do they contradict them in something other than that, which is clothing? Then they follow their desires without any text or analogical reasoning? These trousers are not permissible for a woman because of imitating the man. Then, we do not want this, perhaps trousers will come that are very tight so that a person can estimate the size of a woman’s thigh one hundred percent. Then we do not know, perhaps they will bring trousers of soft silk similar to the skin, which cling to the woman’s thighs and buttocks until she becomes like what? Like she is completely naked. This rapid decline – and I do not say progress – this rapid decline is caused by two things. The first thing: the men not fulfilling what Allah has made obligatory upon them of caring for the woman, guiding her, and directing her, until it is as if a person is not responsible at all for his daughters, sisters, and wives. And we warn these people – sit down, Abdullah, you are harming the people, sit down – and we warn those people who neglected their women that they will be responsible for them on the Day of Resurrection, and perhaps these women will be their opponents before Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had not known that the woman will not be independent in upbringing and direction, he would not have said: Why did he say it this way? Except because the man must fulfill the responsibility, and know his manliness, and know that he is the authority in his home. But unfortunately, many men have become managed. As for the second reason: it is the weakness of personality. We used to think that we were backward and that the disbeliever states were the advanced ones, so we became panting after them, and drinking the pus of their ideas. It is obligatory that the Muslim be proud of his religion, and that he have a strong personality that does not submit to the pus of these people’s ideas.
There are clothes, some of which I mentioned. There are clothes from jewelry that are in the shape of an animal, in the shape of a butterfly or in the shape of a snake, or containing the image of a leader or chief of the disbelievers, or written with silly words. All of these exist now, and it is obligatory to boycott these things because they are forbidden. The angels do not enter a house in which there is an image. And glory be to Allah, the woman wears a ring or other jewelry to drive away the angels of mercy from her, because if it is an image, the angels do not enter the house. And this woman becomes a source of misfortune for herself and for those in the house, since the angels do not enter their house. And if the angels do not enter the house, what enters it? The devils. The devils enter it. Does anyone accept that? You are now walking in the market and you meet two children: one is male and the other is female. Which one is more dressed up? The female. The female is the more dressed up. You find her dress to the knee and the male boy to the ankle, if not lower. The situation has reversed, my brothers. The conditions have turned upside down. It should have been that the girl is more covered and has a longer dress than the boy. But blind imitation, they started watching in magazines or in what they call the robe or in the satellite channels such clothes, so they thought that this is the good.
There are – also – clothes for males. You find the male wearing a huffa – huffa means short trousers – and on him a shirt – I mean a very light garment – that reveals the skin, and yet he walks among the people. And more serious than that is that he prays in it. He stands before Allah (Mighty and Majestic) naked, may Allah save us from that. And his prayer does not suffice him if he prays in this manner, because Allah the Exalted says: And this is incomplete adornment. Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned: "That the scholars agreed on the invalidity of the prayer of one who prays naked while he is able to cover himself". The scholars agreed on that. So it is obligatory to be cautious of these forbidden clothes, for Allah says: The clothing that covers the private parts is the necessary one. And the meaning of "covers" is what? It covers. And "adornment": the clothing of perfection.
I ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) for us and for you success in what He loves and is pleased with. And what a person should do is to thank the blessing of Allah and to spend, not being extravagant nor stingy, but being moderate between them. And if he buys a new garment and he has an old garment, it is better that he give it in charity to the poor, either in his country or in another country. And this is from thanking the blessing of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And some people do not care about this; if they buy the new garment, they throw away the first one even if it is good for use, and this is from wasting money. For this reason, the scholars said: it is befitting for a person, when he wears a new garment, to give the old garment – meaning: the worn one – in charity, so that he wears a new garment physically and wears a spiritual garment, because charity is a means of nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Then it is obligatory that a person not be stingy with his family in what is obligatory of clothing or food or drink, because he is responsible for it if he wastes it. But let his fulfilling of it be in a manner that is not extravagant and not stingy. We ask Allah for us and for you safety and success in what He loves and is pleased with.
And before me are many questions, perhaps in them is something we have not mentioned. And to the questions, if Allah wills.