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Fatwa CenterCustomary norms determine what involves imitation of opposite sex
Question
Are men allowed to wear panties (if they choose to) in Islam? I don't see any rule prohibiting this except the fact that cross dressing is haram. But to be honest, men's underwear and women's underwear in the modern day vary only slightly (for instance look at briefs). So whose to really say what is for women and what is for men? Is it by color? So then wouldn't that mean that it's haram for guys to wear pink underwear? Or is it by the shape or style (thongs and bikinis)? But those weren't even invented back in time and were just recently introduced as an underwear style. So I don't see how Islam can judge that wearing panties today is crossdressing. Here is the only thing I saw about this topic: https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/128970 And my question to this is, I am not trying to imitate anyone. I am simply wearing them because I like them. Is that still haram? Second question: it says "It is forbidden for a man to wear the clothes that are peculiar to women". My main premise behind men wearing panties is this: Whose to say that some clothes are for females and others are not? Companies who make them? If that's the case, then if a company makes new "mens underwear" that look like bikinis and thongs, is that ok? I don't see this as imitating women in any way. I see it simply as trying underwear that has more color and options! Men's underwear are always bland in color. Women's underwear are also more comfy. My reasoning for wearing them are the options and how comfortable they are. I personally think they are extremely comfortable (way more than men's underwear) and somewhat cute. Is that really haram? My partner loves that I wear them. From my research (of buying panties), the only difference between men's underwear and women's underwear, is the amount of clothing it shows. I don't believe this is any reason to distinguish men's vs women's clothing.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The scholars stated that the imitation that is forbidden is with respect to what is peculiar to either gender, and so, it becomes forbidden for the opposite gender to imitate the other gender with respect to that thing. However, it is not forbidden to wear what is common to both men and women.
To know what is peculiar to either gender depends on the custom/norms of the people and their culture concerning whether a given clothing is peculiar to men, or peculiar to women, or
whether such clothes are common to both men and women.
Custom is given legal consideration in all matters which the religion has not determined. There is a Fiqh rule that states: Al-A'adah Muhakkamah which means that ‘Custom or common practice determines, i.e. it is an accepted source of legal prescription (in the absence of relevant religious text).’ The evidence for this is that ‘Abdullaah ibn Mas‘ood 
said: "What the Muslims see as good is good in the sight of Allaah and what they see as bad is bad in the sight of Allaah." [Ahmad]
Allaah Knows best.
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