Ruling on working in a shop that rents out wedding dresses
Question My cousin works in a shop that rents wedding and party dresses. She wants to know if this work is halal or haram. She says that there is no other job available now. Is she permitted then to stay in this job until she finds another? Most of these dresses expose the shoulders, chest…
Question
Most of these dresses expose the shoulders, chest and neck, but they all have an attachment that is similar to a jacket to cover those positions of body.
This shop rents those dresses for three types of brides.
– A bride who normally wears hejab. She rents the dress with the jacket, and their parties are usually mixed.
– A bride who normally wears niqab. She rents the dress without the jacket, and their parties are usually in two halls; one for men and the other for women.
– A bride who does not normally wear hejab. She rents the dress without the jacket, and their parties are usually mixed.
Praise be to Allah.
With regard to clothing
that reveals ‘awrahs and shows a woman’s charms, selling and renting them is
something that is subject to further discussion, as follows:
1-
It is permissible to sell
and rent them to people who we know or think most likely that they will use
them in permissible ways.
2-
It is haraam to sell and
rent them to people who we know or think most likely that they will use them
in haraam ways, such as one who will wear them in mixed parties, because
that is helping in sin. It is known that it is not permissible for a woman
to uncover her neck and shoulders in front of non-mahram men, rather she is
obliged to conceal all of her body in front of them, even her face and hands
according to the more correct opinion. See the answer to question no.
11774 and
21536.
3-
If it is not known whether
the purchaser or renter will use them in halaal ways or haraam, and there is
no circumstantial evidence to suggest that either of the two possibilities
is stronger, then the basic principle is that it is permissible to sell or
rent it to them, then if they use it in haraam ways, then they are the
sinners.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Sharh al-‘Umdah
(4/386): All clothing that it is thought most likely that it will be used
for sinful purposes, it is not permissible to sell it or sew it for one who
will use it for sinful and wrongful purposes. End quote.
It says in Fataawa
al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (13/109): Everything that will be used in haraam
ways, or it is thought most likely that it will be used in such ways, it is
haraam to manufacture it, import it, sell it or distribute it among the
Muslims. That includes what many women do nowadays – may Allaah guide them –
of wearing thin, tight and short clothes, which may all be summed up as
showing their charms and adornments, and showing the shape and size of a
woman’s limbs in front of non-mahram men. End quote.
Based on that we say: If
your cousin is able to follow what we have said then there is nothing wrong
with this work of hers, but if she is not able to do that, then she should
leave this job, seeking the pleasure of Allaah and so as to avoid sin. She
should realize that there are many ways of seeking halaal provision, and
that if a person fears Allaah, He will provide for him, and the one who
gives up something for the sake of Allaah, Allaah will compensate him with
something better than it.
It is not permissible for
her to stay in this haraam job until she can find another, because there is
no necessity which makes it permissible to do something haraam.
And Allaah knows best.
