Buying and Selling in the Market While Guarding the Gaze

Question

Question: The shopkeepers here travel to Calcutta to buy chrome leather. Those who make chrome leather in Calcutta are non-Muslims, and their women also work alongside their men. Ordinary traders go there to buy goods, and they say that the women of these people bare their breasts when nursing their children, while the traders are right in front of them. Is it permissible for a Muslim trader to go there and buy goods or not?

Answer

Buying goods is certainly correct, but one must not look at women who are not mahram — just as in the market, too, many women go about with their heads and arms uncovered: looking at them is forbidden. As for buying the things one needs from the market as such, it is correct according to the Shari‘a.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.