Is it permissible to publish pictures of wedding dresses for women on a website, while concealing them from male visitors? And is the website owner sinful if men access them through circumvention? And is it permissible for the website owner to upload and arrange these pictures and look at them for the purpose of ensuring they are free of errors?
"Depicting living beings, whether through drawing or photography, is impermissible except out of necessity or urgent need, such as for identification. If the picture is of a woman and is published online, the sin is greater, especially if she is adorned in a wedding dress, due to the spread of corruption and discord involved. Adding a question about the visitor's gender will not prevent those with weak faith from accessing the site. Therefore, uploading pictures in this case is assisting in sin. Intentionally looking at foreign women is forbidden by Islamic law, except for a need or necessity such as an engagement or medical treatment, and not to verify that the pictures are free of errors. As for matters that have become widespread afflictions, such as pictures of women on food packaging, it is permissible to deal with them due to the difficulty of avoiding them, but this does not serve as proof for the permissibility of looking at women. This is because looking at pictures, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is forbidden except out of necessity."
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
Read the full answer on Ftawyhttps://ftawy.com/en/questions/22587