Wearing revealing and short clothes, and the limits of women’s ‘awrah in front of other women
Question

                It is becoming common for some women to wear short and tight clothes which show off their charms and which may be sleeveless or show the chest or back, so that the woman is virtually naked. When we try to advise them, they say that they only wear these clothes in front of other women, and that the ‘awrah of a woman in front of other women is the area from the navel to the knee. What is the ruling of Islam, in your opinion, with evidence from the Qur’aan and Sunnah, on this matter and on wearing these kind of clothes in front of mahrams? May Allaah reward you with good on behalf of the Muslims, men and women, and make your reward great.
Praise be to Allah.In response to this it might be said that it is reported 
          in a saheeh hadeeth that the Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“There are two types of the people of Hell whom I have not seen yet. 
          People with whips like the tails of cattle, with which they strike the 
          people, and women who are clothed yet naked, walking with an enticing 
          gait. They will not enter Paradise nor even smell its fragrance, although 
          its fragrance may be detected from such and such a distance.”  
          
The scholars interpret “clothed yet naked” as referring to women who 
          wear tight clothes or light clothing that does not cover what is beneath 
          it, or short clothes. Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah) mentioned that 
          what women wore inside their houses at the time of the Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) covered everything from 
          the heel of the foot up to the palm of the hand. All of this was covered 
          when they were inside the house, and when they went out to the market, 
          it was known that the women of the Sahaabah used to wear loose garments 
          which would drag along the ground. The Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) allowed them to let it trail 
          up to a cubit, but no more than that.  
With regards to the doubts that some women have, concerning the words 
          of the Prophet  (peace and blessings 
          of Allaah be upon him), “Let no woman look at the ‘awrah of another 
          woman and let no man look at the ‘awrah of another man; the ‘awrah of 
          a woman in front of another woman is from the navel to the knee”, which 
          they interpret as indicating that women may wear short clothes – the 
          Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
          Allaah be upon him) did not say that  it is sufficient for women’s 
          clothing to cover the area from the navel to the knee, so this cannot 
          be used as evidence. What he did say was that no woman should look at 
          the ‘awrah of another woman, so he forbade them to look, because the 
          ‘awrah of the woman who is wearing loose clothing may sometimes be exposed 
          when answering the call of nature or for some other reason, so the Prophet 
           (peace and blessings of Allaah 
          be upon him) forbade women to look at one another’s ‘awrahs.  
Because the Prophet  (peace and 
          blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that no man should look at the 
          ‘awrah of another man, does this means that the Sahaabah wore izaars 
          (waist wrappers) or trousers only between the navel and the knee? Does 
          anyone think that women can go to meet other women wearing nothing but 
          clothes that cover her from the navel to the knee? No one would say 
          such a thing. That only happens among the kaafir women. The confusion 
          that some women feel has no basis; what some women understand from this 
          hadeeth is not correct. The meaning of the hadeeth is clear. The Prophet 
           (peace and blessings of Allaah 
          be upon him) did not say that women's clothing should cover only the 
          area between the navel and the knee. Women have to fear Allaah and feel 
          that sense of modesty which is part of the nature of women and which 
          is part of faith, as the Prophet  
          (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Modesty is a branch 
          of faith.” And it is said in the proverbial sense, “more shy than the 
          virgin in her seclusion.” It was not even known among the women of the 
          jaahiliyyah to cover only the area from the navel to the knee, such 
          a thing was not known among either women or men; do these women want 
          the Muslim women to be even worse in appearance than the women of the 
          jaahiliyyah?  
In conclusion: the clothing is one thing and looking at 
          the ‘awrah is another thing. With regard to clothing and what a woman 
          wears in front of other women, it is prescribed for her to cover everything 
          from the palm of the hand to the heel of the foot, but if a woman needs 
          to pull up her dress in order to do some work etc., she may pull it 
          up to her knees, and if she needs to roll up her sleeves to the upper 
          arms she may do that too, if she only does it as much as is necessary. 
          But if this is the way she usually dresses, then that is not allowed. 
          The hadeeth does not indicate this under any circumstances at all, hence 
          it addresses the one who is looking, not the one who is looked at. The 
          Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
          Allaah be upon him) was not referring to how women should dress; all 
          he was referring to was the ‘awrah. He did not say that women’s dress 
          may cover only the area between the navel and the knee, as these women 
          mistakenly think.
 With regard to mahrams, they may see as much as another 
          woman may see, i.e., it is permissible for a woman to uncover in front 
          of a mahram what she uncovers in front of other women, so she may uncover 
          her head, neck, feet, hands, forearms, calves, etc, but she should not 
          wear short clothes.