Is a woman imitating the dress of a dancer in front of her husband considered a prohibited imitation in the Shari'ah?

The questioner : The woman who is content to wear, within the walls of married life, what is specific to the coverings of prostitutes.

The Shaykh : You have conceded its permissibility.

The questioner : Let me finish, I am.

The Shaykh : You conceded its permissibility, my brother, which means you are now going back on it. When I told you: the tban, the tban is the dress of whom?

The questioner : This is common among women, the tban.

The Shaykh : Common among the female Companions?

The questioner : No, among the Muslim community.

The Shaykh : You and I?

The questioner : No, heh heh.

The Shaykh : Yes, it is common today, this is the dress of the disbelievers.

The questioner : But there is no text in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about the tban.

The Shaykh : What else?

The questioner : There is no text that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) granted a dispensation for wearing the tban.

The Shaykh : By whom?

The questioner : For men.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, and the private parts and the thigh?

The questioner : I mean from under the garment, the intended meaning is from under the garment.

The Shaykh : So what is its relation to our topic now? We are talking about women. The tban you are talking about is specific to male workers. Lady Aisha had young men who served her palanquin, so they would wear the tban because with the izar that they used to cover their thighs, perhaps when going up and down, the major private part might be exposed, so they would use the tban. But we are talking now about the custom of women in this time. The tban, and I have been following you from the tban that covers the major private part, then you lengthened it a bit to the knees, then, then, and you conceded the permissibility of this. So now you are going back on it. So let us return to the first topic.

The questioner : Let us return to the tban. Does her dress of the tban not affect her behavior and her faith-based character?

The Shaykh : No, my brother, because this is a temporary dress, a temporary dress between her and her husband.

The questioner : Her acceptance of it within married life does not affect her outside of married life?

The Shaykh : What has an effect is making the matter a custom and announcing it among people. But between the husband and wife, such a thing is perfectly fine, that she stands before her husband naked. And this nakedness is more severe, I mean from the moral aspect, we would say it is of the kind that she covers her major private part. But when this and this is the case, it is not a custom but rather on the occasion of caressing or something similar. Therefore, the prohibition you are thinking of does not arise from committing such an act on a certain occasion, but rather arises from making it a custom. And the matter returns, as we said, to a dress that has its effect. But any dress has its effect? It is the one that is made a custom, as is the reality, for example, for Muslim youth. But in this narrow picture in which we are giving examples, the effect you are pointing to does not appear at all.

The questioner : Well, a woman wearing the dress of the dancers in the theaters in front of her husband, is there not a type of love? Is there not a type of love and approval for what they do?

The Shaykh : My brother, you just picture to me that this thing practically stops at this limit that you are now saying, in front of her husband, the dress of the dancers, and that's it. Is there such a thing in reality? I will answer you in advance. If there is such a thing in reality, I say this is pure imagination. It is not possible that the one you are referring to would not appear before the women of her gender in this dress that she appears in before her husband as well.

The questioner : Indeed, it happened that she agreed with her husband to wear this outfit on the basis that she is a religious, conservative woman.

The Shaykh: Okay

The questioner : But she liked this dress from the prostitute and wanted to adorn herself for her husband with it within the limits. Is there not love for them in what they do of open sinfulness?

The Shaykh : Those do it openly, this one does it between her and her husband. There is a great difference between this and that.

The questioner : So for the dress, is there not a type of love or approval?

The Shaykh : In this narrow circumstance.

The questioner : Is this permissible?

The Shaykh : Like sexual intercourse and what is similar to it, what do you think?

The questioner : Does it not lead to corruption in the character?

The Shaykh : I agree with you, therefore I told you I do not imagine that this picture you are now describing stops between the husband and wife. It does not stop at the husband and wife; it stops outside, in front of her children, in front of her daughters. And the truth is, our topic is mostly theoretical, not practical. I mean, for example, I gave you earlier the example of wearing pants. Is it the predominant opinion that a woman would adorn herself for her husband by wearing pants without her small daughter or small son seeing her?
Practically, it is difficult to achieve. Therefore, from the perspective of blocking the means to harm, we say no. But if we assume practically that this thing happened, we have no choice but to say it is permissible, because there is no social prohibition. I mean, we are saying that imitation is a social ailment, as we gave the example earlier that if a Muslim is seen dressed in the dress of a disbeliever, you do not greet him.

The questioner : What is in my mind is that the Muslim man is disdainful, the Muslim woman is disdainful and disgusted to wear the clothes of the prostitutes, even inside her marital room. Disdain and disgust, disapproving of their state which

The Shaykh : May Allah will it to be so. No one disagrees with you that the woman should be like this. But we are ruling on the ruling if it happens. We hope that Muslim women are like this, but if it happens that a woman, for example, wore this dress between her and her husband only, what is the ruling?

The questioner : Does it not undermine the perfection of her faith?

The Shaykh : Be patient. You said, presuming that this is imitation. I say it is not imitation, because imitation is a social phenomenon. So if you say imitation here, there appears a disagreement between you and me, perfectly. But if you say in other things, these other things that you are circling around, if they are realized, then it is not permissible. But that it is imitation, this is not imitation.

Another questioner : Is not the imitation of the disbelievers, especially in the dress of people, what has gone beyond being permissible?

The Shaykh : Yes.

Another questioner : As for what is permissible, it does not become imitation.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, it has gone beyond being permissible. Well, but we are now saying what is imitation. We are now researching the definition of imitation, what is it?

The questioner : For example, changing the creation of Allah.

The Shaykh : No, no, not from this aspect. From the aspect of whether it is a social phenomenon or individual. I mean, now a man between himself and himself.

The questioner : Imitation now is to be a social phenomenon.

The Shaykh : Well, here there is no social phenomenon in our discussion, as we said, between four walls, there is no social phenomenon. This is the reason, otherwise your statement is correct.

The questioner : Because the evidence is that he saw more than this dress, he saw from her.

The Shaykh : And this is what we said, yes.