When Is It Permissible for a Woman to Wear Heels?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

What is the ruling on women wearing adorned shoes like heels and the like in segregated events? I have read that heels make a clicking sound and change the appearance of women but if they are worn in all women’s gathering is that allowed?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

There is no problem with a woman wearing heels in the type of setting you have described.

The impermissibility of wearing heels would return to one of two reasons:

(a) their attracting the undue attention of the opposite sex, or

(b) their being an imitation of the corrupt.

In an all-women setting, (a) is generally avoided. As for (b), then most normal sized heels would not necessarily be an imitation of the corrupt. However, other heel types, such as those referred to as “exotic dancing shoes” or “pleasure heels”, would be and should not be worn.

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.

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