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Fatwa CenterFashion design—what is lawful and unlawful
Question
I am a young lady from Algeria who is endowed with a talent for fashion design. I would like to know the ruling on working as a fashion designer? What is permissible and what is impermissible in this field? Please give a detailed answer.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The criterion for deciding the permissibility of a certain job depends on whether it leads to something forbidden or involves a prohibition. It is forbidden to work in a field that includes religious violations such as cheating and gambling. Moreover, anything that leads to what is unlawful is in itself unlawful as it is considered a form of cooperation in committing sin. Allaah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allaah; indeed, Allaah is severe in penalty} [Quran 5:2]
Furthermore, the means have the same legal status as the objectives; meaning that what leads to prohibitions is deemed prohibited as well. For example, scholars considered it forbidden to sell grapes to a person who purchases it for producing wine. It is also prohibited to sell weapons to a person who will use them to oppress or harm Muslims.
Hence, if you design decent clothes that properly cover the woman's body and do not resemble the dress of the disbelieving and dissolute women or design nice clothes for women to wear in the presence of their husbands only and you are feel assured that they will not wear them in front of non-Mahram (permanently unmarriageable) men, then it is permissible.
However, if you design clothes to be worn by women who expose their beauty and adornment outdoors or the like, then this is forbidden as it implies helping them to commit sin. You should not forget that Allaah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And whoever fears Allaah—He will make for him a way out and will provide for him from where he does not expect.} [Quran 65:2-3]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "You will never leave something for the sake of Allaah, but Allaah will give you something better in return." [Ahmad; Al-Arna’oot: authentic]
Allaah Knows best.
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