This page is also available in Urdu language.
یہ صفحہ اردو میں بھی موجود ہے۔ زبان کی تبدیلی کے لیے نیچے بٹن دبائیں۔
Question:
Assalamu alaikum. I regularly wear my wife’s underwear. As a result, our sexual life remains healthy. My wife is happy and she has no objection. We are both fifty years old and have a very loving relationship. Is it permissible to wear one’s partner’s underwear?
Answer:
بِاسْمِ اللہِ سُبْحَانَہٗ وَتَعَالٰی، الَّذِیْ عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَعَالِمَ الدِّیْنِ، وَأَنْعَمَ عَلَیْہِ بِحَقَائِقِ الشَّرِیْعَةِ وَالتَّمْکِیْنِ
Respected! It is good that you have a loving, mutually consenting, and happy marital relationship, but in Sharia ruling, mutual consent alone is not sufficient; in the matter of clothing, the specific Sharia limit regarding resemblance between men and women is also considered.
Sharia Principle
Scholars and grand muftis have written in response to a very similar question that it is not permissible for a man to wear his wife’s women’s clothing, even if in privacy; the evidence cited is a hadith from Sunan Abi Dawud:
أَنَّهُ لَعَنَ الْمُتَشَبِّهَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ بِالرِّجَالِ، وَالْمُتَشَبِّهِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ بِالنِّسَاء
Meaning the Prophet ﷺ cursed women who imitate men and men who imitate women.
Wearing Wife’s Underwear
Therefore, if the underwear is indeed specifically for women, as is usually women’s specific underwear, then it is not permissible for a man to wear it from a Sharia perspective, even if the wife agrees and it is in the privacy of the home, and even if the purpose is to enhance the marital relationship. Muftis have clearly stated in fatwas that one should avoid adopting feminine attributes, appearance, and resemblance, and even avoid mixing with men with feminine traits.
Limits of Husband and Wife Pleasing Each Other
However, the basic intimacy and husband and wife pleasing each other within permissible limits is not prohibited; the Quran describes spouses as “garments” for each other, and in Hanafi fiqh, there is flexibility regarding satr and looking in privacy between spouses. Therefore, a wife can wear clothing that pleases her husband in front of him, provided it does not involve any impermissible resemblance or forbidden intent.
Nevertheless, some muftis have given leeway for wearing it solely in front of the wife, provided it is for spousal fun, enjoyment, and intimacy, and not with the intention of imitating women. Despite this leeway, it is better and more cautious to avoid such an act.
Summary
The better and permissible course is for you to use men’s underwear or such clothing that is for men, or at least unisex clothing that is not specifically considered for women in common usage. According to jurists, wearing underwear itself is not impermissible for a man; the issue here is not the underwear itself but the resemblance to women’s specific clothing.
وَاللہُ بِالصَّوَابِ أَعْلَمُ، وَعِلْمُہُ أَصْوَبُ وَأَتَمُّ
