Fatwa ID: 05810
Answered by: Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji
Question:
Is wearing a suit makrooh tanzihi or it is makrooh tahreemi? What about a tie? Moreover, historical documents and research don’t say that tie and suit is associated with Christianity as per my knowledge and Pope doesn’t wear these things. Please tell whether tanzihi or tahreemi.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
The rule of thumb with regards to clothing is that if it is worn to imitate the disbelievers then it is impermissible,1 if it is not worn with that intention it will not be disliked (Makrooh).
Thus, if the suit or tie is worn with the intention to imitate the disbelievers it will not be permissible to wear.
With regards to the suit and tie being associated with Christianity, it is normally believed that the origins of ties are the Christian cross and thus it is totally unlawful (haram) to wear them. However, one of the great contemporary Jurists, Shaykh Mufti Taqi Usmani (Allah preserve him) researched the origins of ties by looking into the various books compiled on the history of each clothing but was not able to find that it originates from the cross.2
Only Allah knows best
Written by Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
1 Al-Bahrul Muheet, Page 506, Volume 34, Dar ibn Jawzi
2 https://islamqa.org/hanafi/daruliftaa/8300
