Aslam

Praise be to Allah.In response to this it might be said that it is reported

in a saheeh hadeeth that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen yet.

People with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike the

people, and women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing

gait. They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance, although

its fragrance may be detected from such and such a distance.”

The scholars interpret “clothed yet naked” as referring to women who

wear tight clothes or light clothing that does not cover what is beneath

it, or short clothes. Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) mentioned that

what women wore inside their houses at the time of the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) covered everything from

the heel of the foot up to the palm of the hand. All of this was covered

when they were inside the house, and when they went out to the market,

it was known that the women of the Sahaabah used to wear loose garments

which would drag along the ground. The Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) allowed them to let it trail

up to a cubit, but no more than that.

With regards to the doubts that some women have, concerning the words

of the Prophet (peace and blessings

of Allaah be upon him), “Let no woman look at the ‘awrah of another

woman and let no man look at the ‘awrah of another man; the ‘awrah of

a woman in front of another woman is from the navel to the knee”, which

they interpret as indicating that women may wear short clothes – the

Prophet (peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) did not say that  it is sufficient for women’s

clothing to cover the area from the navel to the knee, so this cannot

be used as evidence. What he did say was that no woman should look at

the ‘awrah of another woman, so he forbade them to look, because the

‘awrah of the woman who is wearing loose clothing may sometimes be exposed

when answering the call of nature or for some other reason, so the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah

be upon him) forbade women to look at one another’s ‘awrahs.

Because the Prophet (peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that no man should look at the

‘awrah of another man, does this means that the Sahaabah wore izaars

(waist wrappers) or trousers only between the navel and the knee? Does

anyone think that women can go to meet other women wearing nothing but

clothes that cover her from the navel to the knee? No one would say

such a thing. That only happens among the kaafir women. The confusion

that some women feel has no basis; what some women understand from this

hadeeth is not correct. The meaning of the hadeeth is clear. The Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah

be upon him) did not say that women's clothing should cover only the

area between the navel and the knee. Women have to fear Allaah and feel

that sense of modesty which is part of the nature of women and which

is part of faith, as the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Modesty is a branch

of faith.” And it is said in the proverbial sense, “more shy than the

virgin in her seclusion.” It was not even known among the women of the

jaahiliyyah to cover only the area from the navel to the knee, such

a thing was not known among either women or men; do these women want

the Muslim women to be even worse in appearance than the women of the

jaahiliyyah?

In conclusion: the clothing is one thing and looking at

the ‘awrah is another thing. With regard to clothing and what a woman

wears in front of other women, it is prescribed for her to cover everything

from the palm of the hand to the heel of the foot, but if a woman needs

to pull up her dress in order to do some work etc., she may pull it

up to her knees, and if she needs to roll up her sleeves to the upper

arms she may do that too, if she only does it as much as is necessary.

But if this is the way she usually dresses, then that is not allowed.

The hadeeth does not indicate this under any circumstances at all, hence

it addresses the one who is looking, not the one who is looked at. The

Prophet (peace and blessings of

Allaah be upon him) was not referring to how women should dress; all

he was referring to was the ‘awrah. He did not say that women’s dress

may cover only the area between the navel and the knee, as these women

mistakenly think.

With regard to mahrams, they may see as much as another

woman may see, i.e., it is permissible for a woman to uncover in front

of a mahram what she uncovers in front of other women, so she may uncover

her head, neck, feet, hands, forearms, calves, etc, but she should not

wear short clothes.