Selling underwear when most of the packaging has pictures of semi-naked women on it
If I make the faces black this will not benefit, as the rest of the body is uncovered! My shop is for Islamic wear. There is a section for under wears which is good for is a religious sister comes she will find all she needs. I mean women who wear niqab in particular, so that they do not have to go to a mixed place to buy such things. There is a good religious sister working for me, she is in charge of this section, I do not sell anything there as I am, Alhamdulillah, religious man.
The pictures that are found on the packaging, cartons and boxes for these clothes are things that are not sought in and of themselves, rather they are connected to the permissible goods, so there is nothing wrong with leaving them alone, but if it is possible to remove them or erase them without any damage, that is preferable.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: What is the ruling on pictures that are found on packaging and in magazines and newspapers?
He replied:
With regard to pictures that are found on packaging and in magazines and newspapers, whatever it is possible to avoid should be left alone; whatever cannot be avoided, if the picture is not what is sought, then it seems that the prohibition is lifted, based on the shar’i principle, “and [Allaah] has not laid upon you in religion any hardship” [al-Hajj 22:78]. And hardship dictates leniency. But keeping away from it is better. End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (2/260).
And he (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The fourth category: Keeping pictures that one has no desire for, but they come along with something else, like those which are found in magazines and newspapers that the person does not buy for the sake of the pictures, rather he wants what is in those magazines and newspapers, such as news, scientific research and so on. It seems that there is nothing wrong with this, because the images in them are not what is sought. But if it is possible to erase them without any hardship or difficulty, that is better. End quote from Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed, Baab Ma Ja’a fi’l-Musawwireen.
What we advise you to do is several things:
1.Some of these images a printed on a piece of paper that is separate from the box; if it is possible to remove this, even if it means re-wrapping the clothes, then that is better.
2.If the pictures are small, and they can all be erased without harming the product, then do that.
3.If it is not possible to do all of that, then you can use stickers on the outside to cover the pictures, or the most provocative parts of them, so that the purchaser will know that it has been covered deliberately – because it is offensive – and that there is nothing wrong with the item, and the one who does not buy it will not see the picture or he will miss seeing the picture if he wants to.
And Allaah knows best.
Wister