Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Can a wife wear her husband's undershirt in order to save money? It is an undergarment, and nobody except the family knows. The undershirt is the white undergarment (usually sleeveless, or it may have short sleeves) which men wear under their shirts.

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Religious texts forbade men from imitating women or women from imitating men in clothing. The forbiddance in this regard is confined to the clothes that are peculiar to each gender, and the criterion in determining whether the clothes are peculiar to men or women is the social customs and traditions of the community, as we have previously underlined in fatwa 279481.

We believe – and Allah knows best – that there is no difference in the ruling whether the clothes are outer or undergarments, as the basic principle is that the forbiddance is general unless there is a text that specifies it. We could not find any statement of the scholars making a distinction between inner and outer garments in this regard.

Therefore, it is impermissible for the woman to wear this undershirt if it is peculiar to men, and the fact that her intention is to save money or that nobody outside the family knows of it does not make it allowed.

Allah knows best.