Some women wear abayas with tight, transparent sleeves and embroidery; what is the ruling on this?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
What is your opinion, may Allah preserve you, regarding what has recently appeared among women: tight sleeves on abayas, with embroidery or ribbons around the sleeve, and some abayas where the end of the sleeve is transparent? I do not know what your guidance is regarding these things.

The Shaykh : We say: We have an important rule, which is: "The original ruling regarding clothing, food, drink, and transactions is that they are lawful", and that they are halal, and it is not permissible for anyone to prohibit anything from them except what the text indicates is prohibited. If we know this rule, which is a rule indicated by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah the Exalted said: , and He said: , and He said: , so anything that Allah has not prohibited from these matters is halal. This is the original ruling, unless the Shari'ah comes with its prohibition, such as the prohibition of gold for men, the prohibition of silk for men, except for what is excluded from it, and the prohibition of letting the lower garment, trousers, shirt, or abaya hang below the ankles for men, and the like. If we apply this issue that has occurred recently, which is the new abayas, to this rule, we say: The original ruling is that they are halal, unless there is attention-drawing or fitnah in them, because they are embroidered in a way that draws attention. In that case, we prohibit them, not for their own sake, but for the fitnah that results from them.
Likewise, if it were assumed that women made abayas in the shape of men's abayas, they would be prohibited from doing so, . So we say regarding these abayas that the original ruling is that they are lawful, unless we know that they are a cause of fitnah, in which case we prohibit them.

The questioner : Is blackness required?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Is the color black required?

The Shaykh : It is not required, but for the woman, the color black is more concealing for her, and it is what came from the Salaf, that women wear black garments.

The questioner : Shaykh, if a woman is in a school, do we tell her: You may prohibit the girls from this clothing, or you may not prohibit them?

The Shaykh : We must know whether this is haram or halal? If it is haram, then it is obligatory that the education director or at least the school principal be informed so that the matter becomes general, because perhaps this teacher prohibits it, and a woman opposing the first woman comes, not out of knowledge, and says there is nothing wrong with it, and then a dispute occurs.
And in such matters, I advise all the brothers that in shared matters, one person among these sharers should not take it upon himself to issue a ruling. Rather, it is better that it be brought from the source, and the order come from above. For this reason, some brothers in the military or others often ask us about things that are prohibited and we have no doubt about them, but we fear that if we give them a written, formal fatwa, it will be a cause of dispute among them, because a person may come and say: This is not haram, or ask someone who has no knowledge or is lenient and say: There is nothing wrong with it, and then a dispute occurs in this. So in such matters, one must be careful, and the order must come from the one who has authority over this group. If any of the students are lenient in clothing or bring prohibited clothing, then the school principal should be contacted. If the school principal has the say in this, she speaks, and if not, the education administration takes it up.