Ruling on selling haraam clothes to the kuffaar

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Allaah has commanded the believers to cooperate amongst
themselves in righteousness and piety, and He has forbidden them to
cooperate in sin and transgression. He said (interpretation of the
meaning):

“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue,
righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and
transgression”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

According to the shar’i
principle set out by the scholars: “The means are subject to the same ruling
as the ends.” So everything that leads to haraam is also haraam.

Selling haraam clothing such as short skirts and tight pants
etc in which women go out is undoubtedly haraam because it leads to
forbidden wanton display of their charms, by means of which women tempt
men.

Those who buy these clothes usually go out and appear in them
in front of people, so selling them is helping in sin and transgression, and
spreading immorality and evil among the people.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:

All clothes which one thinks most likely will be used for
sinful purposes, it is not permissible to sell them or sew them for one who
will use them for sinful and wrongful purposes.

Sharh al-‘Umdah, 4/386.

Even if the clothes are being exported and sold to kaafir
women, it makes no difference to the ruling, because the minor rulings of
sharee’ah are also addressed to the kaafirs, according to the correct
scholarly view. This is the view of the majority of scholars. So everything
that is obligatory for Muslims is also obligatory for kaafirs, and
everything that is forbidden to Muslims is also forbidden to kaafirs. They
will be brought to account for that on the Day of Resurrection, and their
torment will be increased.

The evidence for that is the verse in which Allaah says of
the people of Hell (interpretation of the meaning):

“’What has caused you to enter Hell?’

43. They will say: ‘We were not of
those who used to offer the Salaah (prayers),

44. Nor we used to feed Al‑Miskeen (the poor);

45. And we used to talk falsehood (all that which Allaah
hated) with vain talkers.

46. And we used to belie the Day of Recompense’”

[al-Muddaththir 74:42-46]

The point here is that Allaah tells us that He will punish
them on the Day of Resurrection, and that their punishment will be Hell, and
that when they are asked why they deserve this punishment, they will say
that it is for the sins of not praying and not feeding the poor. This
indicates that they will be punished for that as well as for their being
kuffaar who did not believe in the Day of Reckoning.

In conclusion:

Selling these garments to those who you think will most
likely use them for sinful purposes is haraam, whether those who buy them
are Muslims or kaafirs.

And Allaah knows best.

See also the answer to question no.
34674. In the answer to question
no. 3011 you will find an important
discussion of a hadeeth from which it may be understood that it is
permissible to sell things that are forbidden to Muslims if they are being
sold to kaafirs.

And Allaah knows best.