Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

 i have been studying fashion for three years now and it requires me to research into the latest western fashions with women wearing tight, short and transparent clothing even though i have no interest in designing such garments. is it wrong for me to study this subject?

**please keep me anonymous** 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Study Fashion Desiging

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Fashion designing is not amongst the acts or means of livelihood forbidden in Islam, thus there is absolutely no harm if one wishes to design clothes for people provided one strives to stay within the boundaries of Allah and His Messenger (saws).

is it wrong for me to study this subject?

If one is careful and strives to stay within the boundaries of Allah Subhanah, one cannot say or declare that it is wrong for a believer to study or practice the subject of ‘fashion designing’. If one is seeking to learn an art or subject, regardless of whether one is interested in it or one wishes to make a career out of it, it would be better and preferable for the believer to learn something which would be legal, useful and beneficial to mankind; such knowledge would not only earn the person his livelihood in his/her life of this world, but earn him a huge reward in his life of the Hereafter.

Thus the question is not whether ‘fashion designing’, assuming that in the process of acquiring its knowledge one does not violate or transgress the boundaries of Allah, is as a subject right or wrong, but whether this ‘knowledge’ is more beneficial to mankind than the other available alternatives.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan