What is the Permissibility Regarding a Male Tailor Measuring a Woman For a Dress?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question Summary
What is the permissibility regarding a male tailor measuring a woman for a dress?
Question Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
May Allah bless you for your concern and caution in the religion.
After consulting some reputable scholars, it is clear that it is impermissible for a male tailor to measure the body of a woman if doing so entails touching her body or seeing its shape. [Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi; Mufti Manzur Ahmad]
Summary
That said, one should refrain from direct measuring. Consider the following alternative options:
1) She can give the tailor a sample garment to copy
2) She can have a woman measure her
3) She can measure herself
4) She can purchase a pre-made garment
Etc…
Since these options are available, there remains no necessity to allow for direct measuring of the body.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
