What is the ruling on a woman wearing short sleeves in front of mahrams?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner asks: Is it permissible for a woman to wear short sleeves? Is this considered imitating the disbelieving women? And what are the parts of the body that a woman is allowed to show in front of her mahrams?
The Shaykh : What is appropriate in this era is not to allow women to loosen their clothing. Because if the door is opened for women, they will break the door down from its foundation, and they will use what is permissible as a means to reach what is forbidden. Otherwise, the default is that there is nothing wrong with a short sleeve that reaches the elbow, and there is no harm in a man looking at the arm, hand, foot, and leg of a mahram relative. However, we do not permit this clothing for women in order to block the means to harm. For if a woman is given leeway in her clothing and adornment, she will exceed the permissible limit of that and go to what is forbidden.
The presenter : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : What is appropriate in this era is not to allow women to loosen their clothing. Because if the door is opened for women, they will break the door down from its foundation, and they will use what is permissible as a means to reach what is forbidden. Otherwise, the default is that there is nothing wrong with a short sleeve that reaches the elbow, and there is no harm in a man looking at the arm, hand, foot, and leg of a mahram relative. However, we do not permit this clothing for women in order to block the means to harm. For if a woman is given leeway in her clothing and adornment, she will exceed the permissible limit of that and go to what is forbidden.
The presenter : May Allah bless you.
Source
ابن العثيمين - لقاء مع الشيخ - ربيع المدخلي — archive.org (11:52)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.