Wearing revealing and short clothes, and the limits of women’s ‘awrah in front of other women

In response to this it might be said that it is reported
in a saheeh hadeeth that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen yet.
People with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike the
people, and women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing
gait. They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance, although
its fragrance may be detected from such and such a distance.” 

The scholars interpret “clothed yet naked” as referring to women who
wear tight clothes or light clothing that does not cover what is beneath
it, or short clothes. Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) mentioned that
what women wore inside their houses at the time of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) covered everything from
the heel of the foot up to the palm of the hand. All of this was covered
when they were inside the house, and when they went out to the market,
it was known that the women of the Sahaabah used to wear loose garments
which would drag along the ground. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) allowed them to let it trail
up to a cubit, but no more than that. 

With regards to the doubts that some women have, concerning the words
of the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him), “Let no woman look at the ‘awrah of another
woman and let no man look at the ‘awrah of another man; the ‘awrah of
a woman in front of another woman is from the navel to the knee”, which
they interpret as indicating that women may wear short clothes – the
Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) did not say that  it is sufficient for women’s
clothing to cover the area from the navel to the knee, so this cannot
be used as evidence. What he did say was that no woman should look at
the ‘awrah of another woman, so he forbade them to look, because the
‘awrah of the woman who is wearing loose clothing may sometimes be exposed
when answering the call of nature or for some other reason, so the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) forbade women to look at one another’s ‘awrahs. 

Because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that no man should look at the
‘awrah of another man, does this means that the Sahaabah wore izaars
(waist wrappers) or trousers only between the navel and the knee? Does
anyone think that women can go to meet other women wearing nothing but
clothes that cover her from the navel to the knee? No one would say
such a thing. That only happens among the kaafir women. The confusion
that some women feel has no basis; what some women understand from this
hadeeth is not correct. The meaning of the hadeeth is clear. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) did not say that women’s clothing should cover only the
area between the navel and the knee. Women have to fear Allaah and feel
that sense of modesty which is part of the nature of women and which
is part of faith, as the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Modesty is a branch
of faith.” And it is said in the proverbial sense, “more shy than the
virgin in her seclusion.” It was not even known among the women of the
jaahiliyyah to cover only the area from the navel to the knee, such
a thing was not known among either women or men; do these women want
the Muslim women to be even worse in appearance than the women of the
jaahiliyyah? 

In conclusion: the clothing is one thing and looking at
the ‘awrah is another thing. With regard to clothing and what a woman
wears in front of other women, it is prescribed for her to cover everything
from the palm of the hand to the heel of the foot, but if a woman needs
to pull up her dress in order to do some work etc., she may pull it
up to her knees, and if she needs to roll up her sleeves to the upper
arms she may do that too, if she only does it as much as is necessary.
But if this is the way she usually dresses, then that is not allowed.
The hadeeth does not indicate this under any circumstances at all, hence
it addresses the one who is looking, not the one who is looked at. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) was not referring to how women should dress; all
he was referring to was the ‘awrah. He did not say that women’s dress
may cover only the area between the navel and the knee, as these women
mistakenly think.

 With regard to mahrams, they may see as much as another
woman may see, i.e., it is permissible for a woman to uncover in front
of a mahram what she uncovers in front of other women, so she may uncover
her head, neck, feet, hands, forearms, calves, etc, but she should not
wear short clothes.