In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

The Conditions of the Muslim Woman’s Dress

Allah commanded the believing women to cover, and He did not leave the manner of that covering to guesswork. The scholars gathered the conditions of the dress from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, so that a woman can hold any garment up against them and know whether it fulfills what she was commanded, or falls short of it. This article sets out the eight conditions recorded by Shaykh al-Albani in The Dress Code for the Muslim Woman in the Book and the Sunnah, with the explanations of Shaykh Zayd al-Madkhalee and the rulings of Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen beside them. Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan’s Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women adds its own statement of the second condition.

The Evidence from the Qur’an

Allah says:

“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except that which is apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron), and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)”

(Qur’an 24:31)

And He says:

“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the Believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful”

(Qur’an 33:59)

From these two verses the scholars took the foundation: the adornment is not displayed, and the cloak is drawn over the whole body. The eight conditions below are how that foundation is measured in an actual garment.

The Eight Conditions

Shaykh al-Albani gathered the conditions of the dress code in his book The Dress Code for the Muslim Woman in the Book and the Sunnah. They are:

It covers all the body, apart from whatever has been exempted.
It is not itself beauty or adornment.
It is thick, and not transparent or see-through.
It is loose, not tight, describing no part of the body.
It is not perfumed with incense or perfume.
It does not resemble the clothing of men.
It does not resemble the dress of non-Muslim women.
It is not a garment of fame and vanity.

The Conditions Explained

1. It covers all the body

Shaykh Zayd al-Madkhalee explains this condition from the verse of the jilbab: “the jilbaab is a long garment that is ample enough to cover the entire body,” and the word in the verse for drawing it down means “to lower” and “to let down.” The covering is of the whole body, not a part of it.

One difference between the two shaykhs should be stated plainly. In Shaykh al-Albani’s own framing of this condition, he writes of covering the whole body “aside from her face and her hands, if she wishes.” Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen holds that the face is covered as an obligation, as he argues throughout A Treatise on Hijab. The conditions in this article are the checklist the two books share; the reader should know that their authors differ on this one point of the face and hands.

2. It is not itself beauty or adornment

A garment can cover and still defeat its own purpose if it draws the eye. Shaykh al-Madkhalee writes that the hijab “must not be a source of decoration in itself, such as by it being colorful and flashy, causing eyes to turn towards it and hearts to be diseased (with temptation),” and he concludes: “every Hijaab that does not prevent the display of one’s adornment in front of male-strangers, is not a valid Hijaab.”

Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan states this same condition in his own list, in Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women: “The woman’s clothing must not be attractive to the extent that it attracts gazes when she goes outside, so that she avoids becoming an exhibitionist.”

3. It is thick, and not transparent

Shaykh al-Madkhalee explains that the objective of the hijab, “to veil a woman’s entire body and her hidden and apparent adornment, cannot be achieved with a thin garment.” Of the transparent cloak that some women wear, he writes that it “is not considered a legitimate Hijaab since it only brings about an increase in her ability to entice (men) with her attractive and alluring features.”

Shaykh al-Albani opens his chapter on this third condition in The Dress Code: “This is because covering is not achieved without it; as for flimsiness or transparency, it increases a woman’s susceptibility to fitnah and showing off her adornments”. In the same chapter he quotes Ibn ‘Abdu’l-Barr on the meaning of the hadeeth of the clothed yet naked: “He was referring to the women who wear thin garments that describe their form, rather than cover it, who are dressed in name, but in truth, are naked.”

4. It is loose, not tight

A tight garment outlines the body in front of strangers, and Shaykh al-Madkhalee writes that this “goes against the objective that is sought after by the obligation of Hijaab.” Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen rules in the questions at the end of his Treatise: “Wearing tight garments and trousers is unsuitable for a woman, and if an unrelated man sees her, this is no doubt, unlawful, because this will cause a great fitnah.”

Shaykh al-Albani opens his chapter on this fourth condition in The Dress Code with the reason for it:

“This is because the aim of the garment is only to remove fitnah and that is not achieved except by a loose, flowing garment. As for tight clothing, though it may cover the skin, it shows the shape of the body, or part of it and displays it to the eyes of men; and that is clearly a source of corruption and an invitation to it. So it is essential for it [the clothing] to be wide.”

He then brings the hadeeth of Usamah ibn Zayd, in which the remedy is a ghilalah [a loose-fitting under-garment] worn beneath the outer garment. The book’s footnote records the hadeeth from Al-Diya’ Al-Maqdisi in Al-Ahadith Al-Mukhtarah (1/441), and from Ahmad and Al-Bayhaqi, with a hasan [good] chain of narrators:

“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) gave me a heavy Egyptian garment from the things given to him by Dihyah Al-Kalbī and I gave it to my wife. He (ﷺ) asked me: ‘Why are you not wearing the Egyptian garment?’ I said: ‘I gave it to my wife.’ He (ﷺ) said: ‘Order her to wear a ghilalah under it, for I fear that it will reveal the shape of her body.’”

Both shaykhs rest this on the words of the Prophet ﷺ about women who are “clothed, yet naked.” Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains the phrase in his Treatise, and each of his explanations turns on the ‘awrah [the parts of the body that must be covered]: “His saying: ‘clothed, yet naked…’ has been explained as meaning that they wear short clothes that do not cover the ‘awrah which should be covered. It has also been explained as meaning that they wear transparent clothes which do not prevent what is beneath them, from being seen. It has also been explained as meaning that they wear tight clothes, which cover, but reveal a woman’s form.” A garment can fail the conditions by shortness, by thinness, or by tightness.

5. It is not perfumed

Shaykh al-Madkhalee explains that this condition is required “since fragrances cause men’s desires to be incited,” and he quotes the Prophet ﷺ: “Verily, when a woman perfumes herself and then passes by a group of people such that they can smell her scent, she is a fornicator.” Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen rules likewise in his Treatise: “It is not permissible for a woman to leave her house and mingle with crowds wearing perfume.”

Shaykh al-Madkhalee states the consequence plainly: “So a woman who does this carries the sin of her action as well as the sin of those who respond to her active call to this type of fornication.”

6. It does not resemble the clothing of men

Shaykh al-Madkhalee raises this condition inside his explanation of loose clothing, because trousers fail it twice over: they outline the body, and they resemble the dress of men. He quotes the Prophet ﷺ, who cursed “the man who wears a woman’s garment and the woman who wears a man’s garment” (reported by Abu Dawud and an-Nasa’i).

Shaykh al-Albani sets a second hadeeth under this condition in The Dress Code, reported on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr: “Men who imitate women and women who imitate men are not from us.” (His footnote records it from Ahmad.)

7. It does not resemble the dress of non-Muslim women

Shaykh al-Albani anchors this condition in the Sunnah at the head of his clothing section in The Dress Code. ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘As reported: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saw me wearing two garments dyed with saffron and he said: ‘These are the clothes of the disbelievers, so do not wear them.’” (The book’s footnote records it from Muslim, An-Nasa’i, Al-Hakim and Ahmad.)

The dress of the Muslim woman is her own, not copied from the dress that distinguishes the non-Muslim women. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s answer about jeans, in the questions of his Treatise, draws the line of what imitation means: “The meaning of imitation is that a person does something with the specific intention to imitate them.” A material in itself is not the issue; if the form in which it is used differs from the form of the disbelievers, there is no objection to it. What is forbidden is dressing in their manner in order to be like them.

8. It is not a garment of fame and vanity

The last condition guards the intention of the dress. A garment worn to be noticed, talked about, and admired, even if it covers, turns the covering itself into display, and display is what the verses forbid. The dress of the believing woman is covering without show.

Shaykh al-Albani rests this condition on the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar, in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever wears a garment of pride and vanity, Allah will clothe him on the Day of Resurrection in a garment of humiliation, then He will set it ablaze.” (Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah, as the book’s footnote records; the chain is hasan [good], per al-Mundhiri.)

Key Lessons

The conditions are a single checklist: a garment is measured against all eight together, not one by one in isolation.
Covering alone is not enough. A garment can cover and still fail, by being thin, tight, decorative, or perfumed.
The purpose running through every condition is one: that her adornment is not displayed before men who are strangers to her.
The two shaykhs whose books this article rests on differ on the face and hands, and agree on the rest. Both positions are reported here as their authors stated them.

References

A Treatise on Hijab & A Compilation of Questions Pertaining to Family Matters, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, Darussalam, 2011, translated by Sameh Strauch: printed pp. 11-12 and 16; Part Two, printed pp. 51-52 (tight garments, trousers, imitation), printed p. 80 (perfume), printed pp. 85-86 (“clothed, yet naked”).

Four Essays on the Obligation of Veiling, by Ibn Baz, Ibn Uthaymeen, al-Fawzan, and Zayd al-Madkhalee, Al-Ibaanah, Third Edition, 2008: Shaykh Zayd al-Madkhalee, The Conditions for the Proper Hijaab, printed pp. 86-87 (the jilbaab; the first six conditions).

Rulings Pertaining to Muslim Women, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, Darussalam, Second Edition, June 2003, ISBN 9960-347-29-5, translated by Burhan Loqueman: printed p. 55 (the description of the Islamic dress, point 5).

The Dress Code for the Muslim Woman in the Book and the Sunnah, Imam Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Dar as-Sunnah Publishers: printed p. 23 (the eight conditions), printed pp. 116-117 (the third condition), printed p. 121 (the fourth condition and the hadeeth of Usamah), printed p. 131 (the sixth condition), printed p. 174 (the seventh condition, the clothing section) and printed p. 197 (the eighth condition and its hadeeth). My copy is an image scan; its quoted pages were read from the page images.

Shaykh al-Albani’s book prints the divine name “Allāh”; on this page it is written “Allah”, by the site’s spelling decision, the rest exactly as printed.

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