Why do Muslim women only wear black Abayas in Muslim majority countries? Is it Sunnah of the women of Ahlul Bayt? Is it permissible to wear bright colored Abayas in non-Muslim countries as wearing black might draw unnecessary attention?

Women Ahl al-Bayt Abaya

Why do Muslim women only wear black Abayas in Muslim majority countries? Is it Sunnah of the women of Ahlul Bayt? Is it permissible to wear bright colored Abayas in non-Muslim countries as wearing black might draw unnecessary attention?

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 1 month ago

For the most part, we don't have strong historical evidence about the details of what women from the Ahl al-Bayt (A) were wearing, apart from a few situations where there was a reason to mention a specific fabric or something.

Anyway, without being an expert in the history of clothing, it seems that in some places, the tendency to wear black is pre-modern (and I suspect due to convenience) and in some places it is a product of modernity. When discussing today's "Islamic fashions", it is worth keeping in mind that what we have access to today is largely due to industrialization - for instance, the production of synthetic fabrics, cheap stretchy socks, and mass-produced garments - and people in the past did not have these things. Also, the concept of global "Islamic fashion" (often epitomized by the black Saudi-style abayah) is relatively new and probably due to globalization; up until recent decades, Muslims seemed to tend to wear their own regional styles more.

(There are, however, some interesting books about the history of clothing in the Muslim world, if it is a subject of interest, as well as some early photographs)

To my knowledge, in places like Iran, in the past, it was more common to wear coloured chadors, but in the 20th century, black became the popular colour.

Anyway, shari'ah in and of itself does not regulate what colour you have to wear. However, a general principle is that of 'urf; that is, one should dress in such a way which is considered normal in the area and does not attract attention (unless there is a clear reason to do otherwise, for instance, everyone may be wearing a bikini on the beach, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate to wear a bikini). So colours are one of the matters of 'urf; in some places, it might be normal and appropriate to wear bright colours, and in other places, such as Qom, it might attract a lot of attention or be an inappropriate form of social signalling. Non-Muslm countries also tend to vary widely in their 'urf regarding the colours people wear so it is really left to one's individual judgment, or you could ask people around you if you are concerned.

Anyway, as is said, Allah is beautiful and loves beauty, and Allah created all the colours and did not make any of them inherently taboo.*

(*apart from cases where wearing certain colours is specifically considered makruh, this is not the main subject here)