Q. What is the Shari’ah ruling on wearing jeans? Is wearing jeans permissible?
A. It will be permissible for girls to wear loose jeans as trousers when they wear their gowns and Qamees over these (trousers). Wearing long shirts/jerseys alone with the jeans or other trousers, will not be permissible, since these are not long enough to cover the physique and other parts of the woman’s body. Remember, it is compulsory to cover the body in such a manner that the shape of the body does not become apparent. So, jeans worn as trousers under a gown, Qamees or long loose-dress will be allowed. This allowance does not extend to the act of wearing long sleeve T-shirts or shirts with jeans.
However, it must be known that ‘the wearing of jeans’ by females today, has become a style and fashion which is connected to the western culture. Many advertisements are made by ‘so-called celebrities’ to encourage young girls to wear jeans. They advertise these jeans in such a manner that they display the physique and shapes of their bodies, in an effort to incite others to wear such jeans which will allow the shape of their bodies to be displayed in a similar manner. On account of this, the urge and passion to dress in this manner enters the lives of many of our young Muslim girls, and they begin to wear ‘jeans’, not as a need for a trouser, but as a fashion and a style of the western culture. The Prophet (SA) told us that actions are judged by intentions, and so, when this becomes the intention of our Muslim girls, it remains blameworthy and necessary to avoid.
As an advice, our Muslim women and girls should take the pious and righteous women of the past as their models, and should not adopt the fashions of the western culture of the day.
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Waseem Khan