Transcript The Lawful and Unlawful In regards to Clothing and Adornment

The Lawful and Unlawful
In regards to Clothing and
Adornment
Islam permits, and in fact requires, that the Muslim be careful about
his appearance, dress decently, maintain his dignity, and enjoy
what Allah has created for the purpose of clothing and adornment.
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From the Islamic point of view,
clothing has two purposes: to cover
the body and to beautify the
appearance.
Allah counts His bestowal of
clothing and adornment upon
human beings as one of His favors
to mankind:
“O children of Adam! Verily, We have
bestowed upon you clothing to
cover your shame as well as to be
an adornment to you.... “ (7:26)
Whoever neglects either of these two
aspects, covering or adornment,
has deviated from the way of Islam
toward the path of Satan.
Accordingly, Allah warns people concerning both nakedness and
neglect of good appearance because they are traps of shaytan:
“O children of Adam! Do not let Satan
seduce in the same manner as he
expelled your parents (Adam and Eve)
from the Garden, stripping them of their
raiment in order to expose their
shame.... “ (7:27)
“O children of Adam! Wear your beautiful
apparel at every place of worship, and
eat and drink, but do not be wasteful....
“ (7:31)
Islam has made it obligatory on Muslims to
cover their private parts, which everyone
naturally feels a sense of shame at
exposing in order that they may be
distinguished from the naked animals; in
fact, it instructs them to avoid uncovering
these parts of their bodies even when they
are alone so that they may attain perfection
in morals and religion.
We have the following authentic hadith to prove the
above wherein a man came to the Prophet and asked:
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'O Messenger of Allah! What
should we conceal and what can
we show of our private parts?' He
replied, 'Let no one see them
except your wife or your
bondwoman.'
I then asked, 'What if some people
live together (e.g., during travel, or
camping)?' He replied, 'If you can
manage it, try not to let anyone see
them '
I then said, 'And what if no one is
present (meaning if one is alone)?'
He said, 'Allah is most deserving of
your modesty.'
(Reported by Ahmad, Abu Daoud, alTirmidhi, and Ibn Majah.)
Before directing its attention to the questions of adornment and
good appearance, Islam addressed itself in considerable depth to
the question of cleanliness, for cleanliness is the essence of good
appearance and the beauty of every adornment.
The Prophet said: "Cleanse yourself, for Islam
is cleanliness." ( Ibn Hayyan.)
"Cleanliness invites toward faith, and faith leads
its possessor to the Garden.
(Tabarani.)
The Prophet placed a great emphasis on
keeping the body, clothing, houses, and
streets clean, and he laid special stress on
cleaning the teeth, hands, and hair. This
emphasis on cleanliness is not to be
wondered at in a religion which makes
cleanliness the key to its principle form of
worship, salat, for the Muslim's salat is not
acceptable unless his body, clothing, and
the place where he performs his salat are all
clean.
In addition to this requirement' there are the
obligatory types of cleansing, either of the
entire body in the form of ghusl (total
washing), or of those parts of the body
which are exposed to dirt, in the form of
wudu (ablution for salat).
Once a man approached the Prophet with his hair and beard
disheveled
The Prophet made some gestures as
if asking the man to comb his hair.
He did so, and when he returned
the Prophet said to him,
"Is not this better than that one should
come with disheveled hair, looking
like a devil?" (Muwatta.)
On another occasion the Prophet saw
a man with unkept hair and
remarked, "Does he have nothing
with which to comb his hair?" ( Abu
Daoud.)
Upon seeing another man with dirty
clothes he remarked, "Cannot he
find anything with which to wash
his clothes?" ( Abu Daoud.)
More hadiths illustrating the importance of good appearance
and not walking around lookin shabby tacky and cheap:
A man came to the Prophet wearing
cheap-looking garments. "Do you have
property?" the Prophet asked him.
"Yes," the man replied. "What kind of
property?" asked the Prophet. "Allah
has given me all kinds of wealth," he
said. The Prophet then said to him,
"Since Allah has given you wealth, let
Him see the effects of His favor and
bounty upon you.'' ( al-Nisai.)
Also the Prophet insisted that people
come to general gatherings, such as
the Friday and the 'Eid prayers, nicely
dressed and well-groomed. He said,
“If you can afford it, it is befitting that you
wear garments other than your working
clothes to Friday prayer.”
(Abu Daoud.)
So thus we see the importance of maintaining a good
and clean appearance as Muslims
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Doing so brings one
closer to Allah and
makes the person who
who is living the sunnah
or example of our
Prophet.
It must be noted that
these standards apply to
men and women for
Allah does not
discriminate.