3 colors men are forbidden to wear in Islam

Many Muslims do not know that there are 3 colors that men are not allowed to wear in Islam as Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has strictly forbidden it.

Saffron Color

Muslim men are not allowed to wear saffron color as per the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

Once Abdullah bin ‘Amr رضي الله عنه came to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wearing two garments dyed with safflower.

• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ got angry and said: “Go and take them off.”
• Abdullah bin ‘Amr رضي الله عنه said: “Where should I throw them, O Messenger of Allah?”
• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “In the fire.”
• 8 times when Prophet Muhammad got angry.
• Sunan an-Nasa’i 5317

Orange Color

Similarly, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ forbade a Sahabi from wearing orange color. There is a hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud where a Sahabi Abdullah رضي الله عنه describes an incident this way.

Abdullah رضي الله عنه said: We came down with Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from a turning of a valley. He turned his attention to me, and I was wearing a garment dyed with a reddish-yellow dye.

• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ asked: What is this garment over you?
• Abdullah رضي الله عنه recognized what he disliked. He then came to his family, who were burning their oven. He threw the garment in it and went to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ the next day.
• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ asked: Abdullah, what have you done with the garment?
• Abdullah رضي الله عنه informed him about it.
• Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: Why did you not give it to one of your family to wear, for there is no harm in it for women?
• Sunan Abi Dawud 4066

Plain Red Color

There are several hadith that prove that Muslims are not allowed to wear plain red color in Islam.

Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه said: I was forbidden to wear red garments and gold rings and to recite Qur’an when bowing. – Sunan an-Nasa’i 5266

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ forbade us to use the red Mayathir and to use Al-Qassiy. – Sahih al-Bukhari 5838

• Al-Mayathir: plural of Maythar, which is a kind of soft timber.
• Al-Qassy: clothes mixed with silk lines.

Prophet Muhammad wore a Red suit

Al-Bara رضي الله عنه said: I saw Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wearing a red suit, and I did not see anything better than him. – Sahih al-Bukhari 5848

However, scholars have mentioned that the red garment that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wore was not plain red. Instead, it had other colors as well.

This is because the type of red garment that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had worn (Hulla) typically had red lines along with lines of other colors.