Question
Is it permissible to wear alligator and crocidile shoes and clothing?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
It is permissible, Allah willing, to benefit from products made of crocodile skin if it is tanned. The preponderant opinion of the jurists in our view is that tanning renders all kinds of skin of dead animals pure including a dead dog or pig. The evidence for this is that Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “I heard the the Prophet saying: “Any skin that has been tanned becomes pure.” [At-Tirmith, An-Nasaa’i and Ibn Maajah]
The term ‘any’ in this Hadeeth is one of the strongest forms of generalization, so we cannot exclude any kind of skin without evidence.
Allah Knows best.
Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb