Mothers who put their young daughters in short skirts that expose their legs – is this allowed? (Ibn ‘Uthaimeen)

Mothers who put their young daughters in short skirts that expose their legs – is this allowed?

Question: Some women, may Allah guide them, dress their young daughters in short dresses that expose their shins [and legs]–and when we advise them, they say: ‘We used to dress like that ourselves, and it did us no harm once we became older.’

So what is your opinion regarding this?

Answer: I hold that it is not permissible for a parent to dress his daughter in this clothing when she is a small child because if she gets accustomed, she will carry on on that path, and the affair [of the hijāb] will be taken lightly. However, if she gets accustomed to modesty [in clothing] from an early age, she will proceed upon that, as she reaches adulthood. And I advise our Muslim sisters with this – that they should avoid the garments (fashions) of the non-Muslims and enemies of the Religion – and that they should return their daughters to clothes that cover them, and nurture them on shyness and modesty.

Ash-Shaikh al-‘Allāmah Muhammad Al-‘Uthaimeen (rahimahullāh)

(Ref: Fatāwa ‘Ulamā Al-Balad Al-Harām, p. 1212, slightly adapted)

Comment: In these times, we see many mothers dressing their young daughters (aged 7, 8 and older) in short dresses and skirts that are often sleeveless, and exposing their shoulders. This goes against Islamic cultivation and creates immodest characteristics in girls that become worse when they reach adulthood. This is similar to parents who dress up their boys constantly in Western fashions, alongside copying the hairstyles of non-Muslims and sinners such as the Qaza’ style.

Years later, the same girls find the hijāb ‘too restrictive’, and modesty and shyness unusual and alien to their upbringing and environment. Those who do ‘cover’ themselves do so without fulfilling the correct conditions of the Hijāb. So, it is these young women who post images of themselves on social media seeking to be noticed, followed, flattered and adored by viewers (who comment on their looks, fashion and clothes). What is sad is that most of them end-up used by men, humiliated and discarded. So, may Allah guide mothers and fathers to understand the correct Islamic cultivation of daughters, so that they are raised in obedience to Allah and His Messenger (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) with honour, self-respect and piety.

Abu Khadeejah.