Ruling on buying and keeping fashion magazines
Question

What is the ruling on (buying) fashion magazines such as Burda, in order to find out about new and different styles for women’s clothes? What is the ruling on keeping them after using them, since they are full of pictures of women?
Praise be to Allah.Undoubtedly buying magazines in which there is nothing but pictures is haram, because keeping pictures is haram. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The angels do not enter a house in which there are images.” And when he saw the images on the cushion that ‘Aa’ishah had brought, he stopped and did not enter, and she saw signs of displeasure on his face. These magazines which show pictures of fashion should not be looked at. Not every kind of dress is permissible; because some designs may show the ‘awrah either because they are too tight or for some other reason. This fashion may be part of the dress of the kaafirs which belongs exclusively to them, and imitating the kaafirs is haram because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” What I advise my Muslim brothers in general, and the Muslim women in particular, to do is to avoid these fashions, because some of them may involve imitating non-Muslims and some may involve showing the ‘awrah. Moreover, if women look to every new fashion, will lead to them abandoning our customs which are based on from our religion, and adopting other customs that have come from the non-Muslims.