Question: I understand that the prohibition against wearing clothes below the ankles applies only to men. Is seems that for a Muslim woman, the whole body must be covered up and it is better to cover with an outer garment. If I choose to wear long loose pants with a loose long-sleeve blouse without an outer garment, is this sufficient in Islam? Do I have to cover myself at home in front of my brothers, uncles, cousins, and other male family members?
Answered by the Fatwa Department Research Committee - chaired by Sheikh `Abd al-Wahhâb al-Turayrî
You are correct that wearing clothes above the ankles is required for men only. Women must wear clothes that cover their form and those clothes may very well go below her ankles or even touch the ground.
Women must cover themselves completely in front of all men besides their husbands and those who are mahram to them. (A woman's mahram is a man whom she may never marry due to the closeness of the relationship between her and him.) The husband is allowed to see every part of his wife. Men who are mahram to her may see her in her normal house dress. A woman is permitted to uncover in front of her mahram relatives that which is customarily uncovered, such as the face, hands, forearms, feet, and so on. These are what a woman generally must uncover to be able to do household tasks in comfort. However, if there is a danger of temptation with respect to certain unscrupulous mahram relatives, then she must cover in front of them as if they were strangers.
With regard to going to extremes in uncovering and wearing skimpy, tight, or transparent clothing, there is no evidence in the Qur'ân and Sunnah that this is permissible. This is also the way that leads to a woman tempting some of her relatives, which sometimes happens.
The mahram reatives are the ones enumerated in the following verse: "Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty. That will make for greater purity for them, and Allah is acquainted with all that they do. And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male attendants free of sexual desires or small children who have no carnal knowledge of women." [Sûrah al-Nûr: 30-31]
Also included among the mahram relatives are and the close relations mentioned in the Sunnah like the paternal uncle and the maternal uncle and the relations due to suckling. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The forbidden marriage due to suckling is the same as due to kinship".
As for everyone else, the ruling is the same. You must cover completely in front of them all. It does not matter whether that person is your brother-in-law, your cousin, or an absolute stranger.
A verse, known as the verse of hijâb, was reveled in the fifth year after the emigration to Madinah. Umm Salamah said: "May Allah bless the women of the Ansâr. As soon as the verse was revealed saying: 'O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when out of doors): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-forgiving, most merciful' [Sûrah al-Ahzâb: 59], they immediately covered their heads so you see nothing but a black view." [Sunan Abî Dâwûd]
It does not matter what style of dress you adopt. However, the clothing must be thick enough not to show the color of your skin and it must be loose enough to completely conceal your form. The means of covering is not important. Any clothes that fulfill the conditions of covering may be worn inside or outside the house.
Different cultures have different customs in this regard, and those customs may be respected as long as the woman is properly covered. If you are wearing wide pants and your shirt covers you completely down to the bottom of your thighs, then this should be sufficient.
And Allah knows best.
origion: islamtoday.com
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