Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
There is nothing wrong with wearing a sling to carry a baby during the state of ihram, for such an act resembles carrying a waterskin or a purse, which is not forbidden.
Responding to the question, the prominent Saudi Islamic lecturer and author Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid states:
There is nothing wrong with wearing a sling to carry a baby while in the state of ihram, because that is not the kind of clothing that is described in the texts as being forbidden during the state of ihram, nor is it like such clothing.
It is rather more like carrying a waterskin or a purse, or like carrying one’s luggage on one’s back tied with a rope around the chest, which is not forbidden.
The clothes that are forbidden [for men] during the state of ihram are shirts, pants, burnus (a wide garment with an attached hood to cover the head), turbans, and khifaf (pl. of khuff socks made from thick fabric or leather).
The evidence for such forbiddance is the hadith reported by Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): A man stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah, what do you command us to wear when we enter the state of ihram?” He said, “Do not wear a shirt, pants, a turban, a burnus or khifaf, unless a man does not have any sandals, in which case he may wear khifaf and cut them so that they reach below the ankle. And do not wear any garment that has been dyed with saffron or wars (safflower).” (Al-Bukhari)
With the above in mind, we consider the sling mentioned in the question like carrying a waterskin or carrying one’s luggage on the back tied with a rope around the chest when necessary.
Some scholars state that it is permissible for a person in the state of ihram to carry his luggage on his back and to tie it with a rope around the chest when necessary. This is very much like a sling for carrying a child.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.
Source: www.islamqa.info.