Fatwa ID: 05970
Answered by: Shaykh Ahmed Bin Mohamed Umarji
Question:
Tashubbuh/power/zeenah. All this would apply to a woman in a sports car too, right? So will the ruling apply there too? Likewise any powerful cars like big pickup trucks, etc.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
There are many narrations that explicitly prohibit similitude or tashabbuh.
For example in Sahih Al-Bukhari:
Narrated Ibn `Abbas: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) cursed those men who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of women and those women who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of men.1
Meaning those clothes and beautification that are specific to women is to be avoided by men, similarly, those characteristics that are specific to men should be avoided by women. The method of speaking and walking will have the same ruling”2
Some things are universally understood to be masculine or feminine. For example the method of dressing. In such a case each gender is required to conform to those things unique to them.
On the other hand, there are other things that are not unique to genders, such as in this case sports cars or pickup trucks. It will be permissible for females to utilize such things as they are not gender-specific.
Having said that if certain things are overwhelmingly used by one gender or it is the custom of a society that one gender uses it. then it should only be used by that gender. This is due to a principle in Islamic Jurisprudence that states “Custom is the basis of judgment”3
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Ahmed Bin Mohamed Umarji
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
2 Kashful Bari’, Volume 12, Page 182 Darul Kitab Deoband
3 Al-Qawaid Al-Fiqhiyyah ,Page 46, Darut Tirmidhi
