Should women wear male clothing?

 Modern whims and caprices have dug their claws deep into our young generation.  As a result of which some Muslim men and women have fallen prey to such habits and customs which are nothing but blind obedience to the west.  Thus, such clothes are worn that there is no difference between men and women from the point of view of attire.  Women feel proud today to wear men’s clothes.  Men and women’s resemblance to each other is being accepted in the name of equality of gender and fashion.

 

          The question is are all these beliefs and thoughts correct?  Do they have a positive effect or a negative one?  In this article, we will try to see the effect of men’s clothing and attire on women and what the Shariah says about it.

 

Men and women are different then why should their clothes be identical?

 

The Creator of all worlds has maintained differences between men and women not only with respect to their body and appearance but also with respect to their nature and qualities.  When their very creation is different, then how can their external attire be identical?

 

Even those people who try to make the clothing of men and women identical will attest to this that the men’s clothes for women still have to be made different for women to be comfortable in them.  If difference has to be maintained anyhow, then why shouldn’t one dress up in Islamic attire, in which the clothing of men and women is clearly different?

 

The ill-effects of men’s clothing on women

 

The first ill effect of women donning men’s clothing is that they start resembling each other.  Islam has declared those men and women as deserving of divine censure who resemble each other in dress most of all.  There is a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari:

 

Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas (May Allah be well pleased with them), he says:  The Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has cursed those men who strike a resemblance with women and those women who strike a resemblance with men.  (Sahih Bukhari, Kitaab Ul Libaas, Hadith No. 8558)

 

Thus, wearing men’s clothes makes a woman liable of censure of Allah and His Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  When a woman is cursed by Allah Most High, then where will she find mercy?

 

Second ill-effect

 

If one’s clothing is not as per the natural structure of the body, it leads to many diseases and physical ailments.  Women have been ordered to wear (reasonably) loose clothing which covers their whole body.  If they start wearing men’s clothing, they will only end up with skin and other such disorders.

 

Shariah ruling about wearing coats, pants, etc.

 

In these days of so-called progress, girls go to schools, then colleges and then they work in offices.  In all these phases of life, from education to work, they are enslaved in men’s attire.  These garments expose or at least highlight all their physical beauty.  There are a few reasons as to why these clothes have been prohibited for Muslim women.

 

First reason

 

Men’s clothing is for them only.  If women start wearing men’s garments, it goes against the Shariah.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has prohibited women from striking a resemblance with men.

 

Second reason

 

Shirts, coats, pants, jeans, etc. are mostly worn by non-Muslim women and they are recognized as such by their attire.  If Muslim women wear these garments, they will also appear to be from those religions although Islam has ordered us to maintain the signs of faith.

 

Third reason

 

Those clothes expose the physical beauty of women.  This reason alone is enough for them to be prohibited.

 

Fourth reason

 

They are all imitations of others.  What can be more distressing than Muslim women forgetting the lives and customs of their Pious Predecessors and blindly following such hollow imitations?