Is it inevitable that Allah will punish women who display their beauty (tabarruj) on the Day of Judgment?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:

Tabarruj (a woman displaying her beauty and adornment before non-mahram men) is one of the major sins. Severe warnings concerning it are mentioned in the Sunnah. However, these warnings do not mean that every woman who commits tabarruj will inevitably be punished.

Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah affirm that a person who commits a major sin and dies upon pure monotheism (Tawhid) without repenting remains under the will of Allah. If Allah wills, He forgives them out of His grace, and if He wills, He punishes them according to their sin. Ultimately, they will enter Paradise as long as they did not fall into disbelief or shirk.

As for the hadith:

"They will not enter Paradise, nor will they smell its fragrance."

The scholars explained it in two ways:

• If a woman believes that tabarruj is lawful despite knowing that Allah has forbidden it, this may constitute disbelief, because declaring lawful what Allah has prohibited is disbelief after the proof has been established.
• However, if she knows that it is forbidden but falls into it while acknowledging that it is a sin, then she remains a sinful Muslim who has committed a major sin. She is still under the will of Allah, and it is not necessary that she be punished. Allah may forgive her out of His mercy.

There are also many reasons why the threatened punishment may be removed, including:

• Sincere repentance.
• Good deeds that erase sins.
• Afflictions that expiate sins.
• Allah's pardon and mercy.
• The intercession of those permitted to intercede on the Day of Judgment, by Allah's permission.

Therefore, the texts of warning should not be understood in isolation. They must be understood together with the texts concerning Allah's promise of forgiveness and mercy, which is the methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah.

Conclusion

A woman who practices tabarruj has committed a major sin and is exposed to Allah's punishment. However, it is not permissible to state with certainty that she will be punished. If she dies upon Tawhid, she remains under Allah's will. If He wills, He forgives her, and if He wills, He punishes her according to her sin, after which her final destination will be Paradise, provided that she did not consider the sin lawful or commit anything that takes her out of Islam.

And Allah knows best.