There is no specific ruling with regard to impermissible colours in Islam. Imam Haskafi, the Hanafi jurist, in al-Durr al-Mukhtar states, “There is no objection in any colour of clothing.” There are however some opinions relating to preferable and disliked colours.

White

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said “Wear white garments, for they are among the best of your garments, and shroud your dead in them.”¹ Although there is no command to wear white only, scholars deem it as Mustahab as it was the colour the Prophet ﷺ wore often (al-Durr al-Mukhtār).

Black

‘Aishah reported, “One morning the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out wearing a black blanket made of a camel or sheep’s black hair with patterns of camel’s bags upon it.”² It was narrated from Abdullah bin Zaid that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed for rain wearing a black khamisah.³ It was narrated from Jabir that the Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah wearing a black turban.⁴

There are many examples like this in the sunnah, so scholars also say wearing black is mustahab. It would be impermissible/makhruh for one to obligate wearing black during a death or funeral of a mourning period.

Green

The Qur’an related, “Upon the inhabitants will be green garments of fine silk and brocade. And they will be adorned with bracelets of silver, and their Lord will give them a purifying drink.”⁵and it was narrated that Abu Rimthah said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to us wearing two green garments.”⁶

Aisha narrated, when Allah’s Messenger ﷺ died, he was covered with a Hibra Burd (green square decorated garment).⁷

‘The Prophet ﷺ said that God will clothe him in green on the Day of Judgment as per his words, “The people will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment, and my community and I will be on a hill. God Most Exalted will then clothe me in a green garment and permit me to supplicate Him and I will say whatever He wills I should say; this is the station of praise and honour (al-Maqam al-Mahmud)”⁸

This time, Imam Haskafi says, wearing green is sunnah. It was the colour the Messenger of Allah ﷺ commonly wore.

Red

It was narrated that ‘Abidah said, “He forbade red Al-Mayathir, and gold rings.”⁹ Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-‘As said, “Allah’s Messenger ﷺ saw me wearing two clothes dyed in saffron, whereupon he said: ‘These are the clothes (usually worn by) the non-believers, so do not wear them.’¹⁰ Allah’s Messenger ﷺ forbade wearing of silk and clothes dyed with safflower (a red dye).¹¹ Al-Bara’ b. ‘Azib told that the Prophet ﷺ forbade red saddle-cloths.¹²

However, there are narrations which show the Prophet ﷺ wore red. From al-Bara who said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ had hair down to his earlobes. I saw him wearing a red hullah,¹³ and I have never seen anyone more handsome than him.”¹⁴ What is meant by a red hullah is a suit of two Yemeni garments which are woven with red and black stripes, or red and green stripes. It is described as red because of the red stripes in it. Al-Bayhaqi narrated in al-Sunan, “The Prophet ﷺ used to wear a red cloak on ‘Eid.” Narrated Al-Bara, the Prophet ﷺ was of a modest height. I saw him wearing a red suit, and I did not see anything better than him.¹⁵

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar wore garments dyed with red earth and dyed with saffron.¹⁶ and “a red velvet cloth was placed in the grave of the Prophet ﷺt.”¹⁷

There are also narrations that mention Anas bin Malik narrated, he had seen Um Kulthum, the daughter of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) , wearing a red silk garment.¹⁸

The Hanafis do not say wearing red is haram due to the lack of conclusive evidence, they do say wearing red is either disliked (tanzīha) or prohibitively disliked (tahrīma) or permissible (mubah) and this is based on the intention. If it is worn to resemble women or disbelievers then it is disliked. Otherwise if one wears red then let him be. It is however better to avoid it due to the aforementioned hadith, or at least to wear red mixed with other colours (al-Durr al-Mukhtār).

Yellow (and Orange)

Ali b. Abu Talib reported that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) forbade wearing of silk and yellow clothes, and the gold ring, and the reciting of the Qur’an in the ruku’ (state of kneeling in prayer).¹⁹

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saw me. The version of AbuAli al-Lula’ has: I think I wore a garment dyed with a reddish yellow colour. He asked: What is this? So I went and burnt it. The Prophet ﷺ said: What have you done with your garment? I replied: I burnt it. He said: Why did you not give it to one of your women to wear? Abu Dawud said: Thawr transmitted it from Khalid and said: “Pink (muwarrad)” while Tawus said: “Reddish yellow colour (mu’asfar)”.²⁰

Purple

Ali ibn AbuTalib said, “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade me to wear a gold ring, or a Qassi garment or the use purple saddle-cloths.²¹ and ‘Imran b. Husain reported God’s Prophet ﷺ as saying, “I do not ride on purple, or wear a garment dyed with saffron, or wear a shirt hemmed with silk.”²²

Both yellow and purple follow the ruling of red.

Other colours

Other colours like blue and brown have no mention so will be permissible to wear.

1. Narrated by Abu Dawood, 3380; at-Tirmidhi, 915  ↩︎
2. Riyad as-Salihin 786 ↩︎
3. Sunan an-Nasa’i 1507 ↩︎
4. Sunan Ibn Majah 2822 ↩︎
5. Qur’an 76:21 ↩︎
6. Sunan an-Nasa’i 5319 ↩︎
7. Sahih al-Bukhari 5814 ↩︎
8. Imam Ahmed ↩︎
9. ↩︎
10. Sahih Muslim 2077 ↩︎
11. Muslim, Book 2, Hadith 462 ↩︎
12. Mishkat al-Masabih 4358 ↩︎
13. a red two-piece suit ↩︎
14. Abu Dawud, no. 4072; Ibn Majah, no. 3599 ↩︎
15. Sahih al-Bukhari 5848 ↩︎
16. Book 48, Hadith 4 ↩︎
17. Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1048 ↩︎
18. Sahih al-Bukhari 5842 ↩︎
19. Sahih Muslim 2078a ↩︎
20. Sunan Abi Dawud 4068 ↩︎
21. Sunan Abi Dawud 4051 ↩︎
22. Mishkat al-Masabih 4354 ↩︎