What is the religious ruling on buying and selling used clothing (frip) or bales imported from Western countries, especially since it has become an organized and recognized trade in Arab and Islamic countries?

All praise is due to Allah. The ruling on trading in used clothes (balah) from Western countries:

1. It is not permissible to purchase them if they are sold without knowledge of their contents, as this involves gharar (uncertainty/risk), which is prohibited.

2. It is permissible to purchase them after knowing their specific items, except for what is forbidden, such as special clothing of disbelievers or items bearing a cross or revered images.

3. The clothes of disbelievers, if washed, there is no harm in using them, by scholarly consensus. The preponderant opinion is that it is permissible to use them unless their impurity is known, and it is better to wash them before wearing them as a precaution.

4. Shoes made from animal hides have a detailed explanation mentioned elsewhere.

And Allah knows best.