A problem I see has spread in our society, and people of religion and good character have been afflicted by it, namely wearing the abayas that are on the shoulders, with their names varying.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : A questioner says, O honorableThe Shaykh : It has spread, or rather, he says: A problem I see has spread in our society, and people of religion and good character have been afflicted by it. Namely, wearing the abayas that are on the shoulders, with their names varying, sometimes Omani and sometimes French. So what is your definitive ruling on this matter, so that we may contain this problem before it spreads even more? I suggest to your Excellency, and the decision is yours, that you write a fatwa on this and distribute it to girls' schools and other women's communities.
The Shaykh : Yes. First: I see that our people, and praise be to Allah, are a conservative people. They have built their behavior and methodology upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and upon what our righteous predecessors, the Companions, the Successors, and those who followed them, established. This is the majority of our people, and praise be to Allah. There is no issue with that. And I love with all my heart that we do not seize every opportunity whenever a fashion comes to us to adopt it. These fashions that come to us: either they contradict the Shari'ah, or they contradict custom. Following them, if they contradict custom but not the Shari'ah, is considered foolishness in the mind, foolishness in the mind. For what difference is there between this custom that has come and the custom we are upon? Rather, our customs, and praise be to Allah, are closer to covering and more protected than the customs that have come. But if they contradict the Shari'ah, how can a Muslim be pleased to don the customs of a people who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, which contradict the Shari'ah of Allah? How can he be pleased? Then know, my brother, that imitating the disbelievers increases the strength of the disbelievers and increases your weakness. Do you understand? Imitating the disbelievers increases their strength and increases our weakness, regardless of the type of clothing, because if you imitate a people, that means you have made them your masters. And you have made yourself a follower of them, while they are the ones followed. So you have lowered yourself to a position of humiliation and lowered those to a position of—complete it—glory, because if you did not believe they were superior to you, you would not imitate them. And this last point is something many people overlook. Many people say, imitate what you imitate! I did not know what imitation was, so I did not imitate. It is enough for us to know that if those people know that you are adopting their customs, they rejoice in this. And they say: We are the leaders, we are the masters. So I wish with all my heart that we do not wait for every fashion that comes out to adopt it. Then, if we make it our habit to follow fashions, it will distract us from the interests of our religion and our worldly affairs. One of us, especially the women, has no concern except to look at what has happened today. What clothing has come to the market, and so on. And these are misfortunes. Misfortunes that indicate weakness of personality and little religion. Now, something strange! Restaurants for eating and drinking have opened in a town like Unayzah. A town whose people, and praise be to Allah, are mostly citizens. We found that people from the town itself frequent these restaurants. They dine there with their families. Glory be to Allah! Wondrous, by Allah, one thinks! Which is better: a dinner that you prepared yourself, and you knew what was in it and you knew its cleanliness, or food that you do not know, which may be leftovers, some of it placed on top of other, heated in the fire as if it were cooked now? This is one thing.
Second: You do not know, you do not know, sometimes there is poisoned food in these restaurants.
Third: The families. How do you take out your families? Daughters who are nineteen or twenty years old, or fifteen years old, and young men. How do you take them out to these restaurants? Is it not more befitting for you, as a man who is protected and careful about the safety of your honor, is it not more befitting for you to stay you and your family in your house? By Allah, this is the most befitting. So the truth is that the more a person reflects on society, he finds there things that indicate weakness of personality, and little religion, and foolishness of the mind. As for these abayas, no one doubts that the ordinary abaya that our women used to wear is more covering than these abayas, further from fitnah, and stronger for the personality. Because the person has not descended to what has come from non-Muslims. And this is enough to prefer the previous abayas over the new abayas. Then we say: By Allah, which is more covering: the previous abaya or these abayas that reveal the shoulders, reveal the neck, its length from its shortness, perhaps it is tight and reveals the sections of the body? Which is more preferable? The first or the second? The first. Then we also do not know, perhaps the matter will develop, perhaps today it is an abaya and tomorrow a shirt. We do not know! And one can say: What is the difference between this shoulder abaya and the shirt? And the women will go out in shirts. Also, perhaps the claim will develop, this is enough. Perhaps they will go out in shirts open from the front and back, and the woman has nothing but trousers. So the matter is not development, but it is decline. If the men of knowledge, religion, and mind, and the protected ones, do not stand up against these customs that have come to us, it will spread in a way that we cannot stand against, because if the water is little, it can be contained in any container. But if a large river comes, what will block it? So it is obligatory, my brothers, upon our people of intellect, and those of us who are people of religion and knowledge, to fight these things before they become severe and you are unable to deal with them. And ask the disbelieving and imitating countries what happened to them with dissolution and tabarruj, where they are now unable, unable to establish their sanctities and their personalities. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes. First: I see that our people, and praise be to Allah, are a conservative people. They have built their behavior and methodology upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and upon what our righteous predecessors, the Companions, the Successors, and those who followed them, established. This is the majority of our people, and praise be to Allah. There is no issue with that. And I love with all my heart that we do not seize every opportunity whenever a fashion comes to us to adopt it. These fashions that come to us: either they contradict the Shari'ah, or they contradict custom. Following them, if they contradict custom but not the Shari'ah, is considered foolishness in the mind, foolishness in the mind. For what difference is there between this custom that has come and the custom we are upon? Rather, our customs, and praise be to Allah, are closer to covering and more protected than the customs that have come. But if they contradict the Shari'ah, how can a Muslim be pleased to don the customs of a people who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, which contradict the Shari'ah of Allah? How can he be pleased? Then know, my brother, that imitating the disbelievers increases the strength of the disbelievers and increases your weakness. Do you understand? Imitating the disbelievers increases their strength and increases our weakness, regardless of the type of clothing, because if you imitate a people, that means you have made them your masters. And you have made yourself a follower of them, while they are the ones followed. So you have lowered yourself to a position of humiliation and lowered those to a position of—complete it—glory, because if you did not believe they were superior to you, you would not imitate them. And this last point is something many people overlook. Many people say, imitate what you imitate! I did not know what imitation was, so I did not imitate. It is enough for us to know that if those people know that you are adopting their customs, they rejoice in this. And they say: We are the leaders, we are the masters. So I wish with all my heart that we do not wait for every fashion that comes out to adopt it. Then, if we make it our habit to follow fashions, it will distract us from the interests of our religion and our worldly affairs. One of us, especially the women, has no concern except to look at what has happened today. What clothing has come to the market, and so on. And these are misfortunes. Misfortunes that indicate weakness of personality and little religion. Now, something strange! Restaurants for eating and drinking have opened in a town like Unayzah. A town whose people, and praise be to Allah, are mostly citizens. We found that people from the town itself frequent these restaurants. They dine there with their families. Glory be to Allah! Wondrous, by Allah, one thinks! Which is better: a dinner that you prepared yourself, and you knew what was in it and you knew its cleanliness, or food that you do not know, which may be leftovers, some of it placed on top of other, heated in the fire as if it were cooked now? This is one thing.
Second: You do not know, you do not know, sometimes there is poisoned food in these restaurants.
Third: The families. How do you take out your families? Daughters who are nineteen or twenty years old, or fifteen years old, and young men. How do you take them out to these restaurants? Is it not more befitting for you, as a man who is protected and careful about the safety of your honor, is it not more befitting for you to stay you and your family in your house? By Allah, this is the most befitting. So the truth is that the more a person reflects on society, he finds there things that indicate weakness of personality, and little religion, and foolishness of the mind. As for these abayas, no one doubts that the ordinary abaya that our women used to wear is more covering than these abayas, further from fitnah, and stronger for the personality. Because the person has not descended to what has come from non-Muslims. And this is enough to prefer the previous abayas over the new abayas. Then we say: By Allah, which is more covering: the previous abaya or these abayas that reveal the shoulders, reveal the neck, its length from its shortness, perhaps it is tight and reveals the sections of the body? Which is more preferable? The first or the second? The first. Then we also do not know, perhaps the matter will develop, perhaps today it is an abaya and tomorrow a shirt. We do not know! And one can say: What is the difference between this shoulder abaya and the shirt? And the women will go out in shirts. Also, perhaps the claim will develop, this is enough. Perhaps they will go out in shirts open from the front and back, and the woman has nothing but trousers. So the matter is not development, but it is decline. If the men of knowledge, religion, and mind, and the protected ones, do not stand up against these customs that have come to us, it will spread in a way that we cannot stand against, because if the water is little, it can be contained in any container. But if a large river comes, what will block it? So it is obligatory, my brothers, upon our people of intellect, and those of us who are people of religion and knowledge, to fight these things before they become severe and you are unable to deal with them. And ask the disbelieving and imitating countries what happened to them with dissolution and tabarruj, where they are now unable, unable to establish their sanctities and their personalities. Yes.