Ali Albarghouthi – The Islamic Dress Masculinity and Feminity
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AI: Transcript ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
The way that we dress is not something
external, but it's also connected to what we
believe, to what we hold dear, to how
we want to live, to our outlook in
life.
And as believers, supposedly, everything that we have
to do, that we choose to do, must
be done with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in mind.
He's never absent.
As it is the case that whenever we
want to eat, we consider what Allah wants
us to eat and what not.
How He wants us to eat, how He
wants us to sleep, how He wants us
to marry, how He wants us to have
children.
Meaning every aspect in our life is connected
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
We let go of our desires, of our
choice for that of Allah azza wa jal.
We deem what He wants better than what
we want.
We seek His guidance because it's better than
human guidance.
So when we want to dress, we have
to anchor all of that and all the
choices that surround it in the pleasure of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There's something much deeper to how we choose
what we wear.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, He
said subhanahu wa ta'ala, O children of
Adam, we have sent down, we have given
you garments, clothes to cover your nakedness and
to adorn you.
And the garment of taqwa is better than
that.
So here Allah azza wa jal is telling
us first, recognize this as a favor because
this is something that could escape us.
You simply have clothes in your closet, you
can simply buy this and that.
You stop realizing that this is a ni'mah.
When it protects you from heat and cold,
it's a ni'mah.
When it covers your nakedness, it's a ni'mah.
And He says it doesn't just simply by
necessity or covers what is necessary, but it
also adorns you, it also beautifies you.
That's another ni'mah.
And Allah wants us when we realize this,
to remember another ni'mah.
That is when you realize that this clothes
is a ni'mah, you have to thank Allah
for it.
And the Prophet alayhis salatu was salam, when
he would wear something, he would praise Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allahumma anta kasawtanihi warazaqtanihi, Allahumma laka alhamdu anta
kasawtanihi warazaqtanihi min ghayri ha'ubni innumni wa
la quwa.
Ya Allah, hamd belongs to you, praise, gratitude
belongs to you because you gave me this
to wear and gave it to me without
any might or power on my part.
It's all from you.
And when he would wear something new, alayhis
salatu was salam, he would say, Allahumma laka
alhamdu anta kasawtanihi.
Ya Allah, praise be to you, you're the
one who gave me this to wear.
I ask you for its best and I
seek your protection from its evil.
So here we recognize this as a ni'mah,
but then we don't stop there because Allah
said that the garment of taqwa is better.
Because what you wear on the outside could
wear out.
And if you don't have it, the maximum
that it does is to expose a body,
a physical body.
But what lasts is taqwa.
In the dunya and in the akhirah, and
it's a better garment.
A person could be dressed in the most
expensive clothing but lacks taqwa and he would
be ugly.
And a person could have taqwa in the
most modest of clothing and he could be
the most beautiful person.
What lasts is taqwa.
So Allah says, don't chase after the material,
chase after what lasts.
Clothe yourself on the inside is much better
than what you spend on the outside.
Though it is permissible.
And Allah wants you to remember and make
connection between the two.
That's why Allah has assigned these so that
they would remember.
Then Allah azza wa jal said, لا يفتننكم
الشيطان كما أخرج أبويكم من الجنة ينزع عنهما
لباسهما ليوريهما سوآتهما إنه يراكم هو وقبيله من
حيث لا ترونهم إنا جعلنا الشياطين أولياء للذين
لا يؤمنون He says, don't let the devils
tempt you like the tempting of your father
when he expelled them from jannah.
He removes their clothing from them so that
he would show them their nakedness.
Indeed, he and his progeny, his children, sees
you but you do not see them.
Indeed, we had made the devils companions to
those who disbelieve.
And Allah azza wa jal is telling you
about a plot concerning clothes.
That goes all the way back to whom?
Adam alayhis salaam and Hawa.
What is his plot?
His plot was that I want to remove
their clothes which is the clothes of jannah.
I want to remove their clothes so that
I could show them their nakedness.
So he says, don't let him repeat that
with you.
You already know what happened before.
So a plot of the shaitan no matter
what name it takes, whether it's in the
name of being fashionable, or modern, or fitting
in, or up-to-date, or rich, when
you see them wanting to strip you of
your clothes so that you show more of
your body, more of your skin, tighter clothes,
then you understand that the shaitan is behind
it.
Doesn't matter if it has the name of
a famous designer.
It doesn't matter if a lot of people
are doing it.
It doesn't matter what justification it takes.
You understand that the shaitan is behind it.
So you have to protect yourself from the
plot of the shaitan because Allah said, He
sees you, but you don't see them.
So you don't understand how they're plotting, but
Allah revealed that plot.
And He said, if you disbelieve, the shaitan
will be with you all the time, inspiring
you to do the things that Allah hates,
and behave in ways that Allah hates.
So covering our nakedness, our body is necessary.
It's part of iman.
And it's jahiliyyah to reveal the body.
If you trace the jahiliyyah, at the time
of Rasulullah a.s. they would reveal their
bodies.
In salah, in tawaf, around the Ka'bah,
and elsewhere.
If you see the jahiliyyah today, they reveal
their body.
And they tend to tell you, this is
progress.
But the Prophet a.s. said, otherwise, unless
the aim is to progress into hellfire, then
a person can progress towards it.
He said, for instance, about women, He says,
two groups of the people of hellfire, I
haven't seen them.
They're not around.
He says, the group, one of them that
he did not see, he says, women that
are clothed and naked, causing crookedness, they shall
not enter jannah, nor will be able to
smell it.
And its smell can be found from such
a far, far space.
Far, far distance.
What does it mean when we say clothed
and naked?
Scholars have said, they are clothed in a
way, but naked in another.
Meaning what they're wearing is transparent.
What they're wearing is tight.
You can see, you know what her body
looks like.
She's clothed but not clothed.
Crooked in a way that she is dressed,
causing crookedness because she's inviting people to dress
that way.
He says, these will be in hellfire unless
they repent.
That's not progress.
But this is not only about women.
It's also about men.
The Prophet ﷺ once passed by a sahabi
who had exposed his thigh.
So he says, He says, cover your thigh.
Thigh, your thigh is awrah.
Cover your thigh because your thigh is awrah.
A lot of men take this lightly.
When they dress, they don't consider or they
don't think that they also have an awrah
between their navel all the way to their
knees.
So if you wear something that exposes it,
or something that is tight that describes your
body, it is haram or at least it
is disliked.
So that is also awrah that needs to
be covered.
And some men, you notice this, when they
go into ruku and sujud in the salah,
the top, when they bend, exposes their backs.
And when they go into the sujud, the
posterior is exposed as well.
And exposing that awrah in the salah could
invalidate your salah.
So you wanna be careful about this.
It's not only simply about women, women, women,
but also about men and how men should
behave.
So covering that *, that nakedness is something
that is honorable and should be implemented.
Now another aspect of clothing that we should
pay attention to is not to wear anything
for self-validation, to increase our self-worth
for pride and arrogance.
Rasulullah A.S. said, مَنْ لَبِسَ ثَوْبَ شُهْرَةٍ
أَلْبَسَهُ اللَّهُ ثَوْبَ مَذَلَّةٍ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ Whoever wears
something, a clothing, a garment, for distinction, for
attention, and that is typically associated with pride.
That is they wanna grab people's attention because
of the thing that they are wearing.
He said, A.S. Allah will clothe him
in a garment of humiliation on the day
of judgment because that's kibr.
So when you are shopping, when you're going
to the store and you say, I'll buy
this thing.
And because I'm buying this thing, everybody will
notice me.
Everybody will praise me.
Everybody will like me.
Their heads will turn when I enter and
when I leave.
I'll be respected.
And when you are trying to derive this
self-worth from a piece of clothing, and
because of it also, I'm gonna be better
than him.
And I'm gonna be better than her.
Because I have this bag, these shoes, that
hat, this and that.
When it causes arrogance, it becomes what?
A problem, a serious problem, a major sin.
You can wear nice things.
It's not haram.
You can wear nice things.
You can wear beautiful things.
In fact, a person asked the Prophet ﷺ,
after he had heard the Prophet saying, if
you have the least bit of pride in
your heart, you will not enter Jannah.
Mithqala dharrah.
The smallest pride in your heart, you will
not enter Jannah.
He says, oh Prophet of Allah, I'd love
that my clothes would be beautiful.
And my sandals and shoes would be beautiful.
Is this prideful?
He says, no.
Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.
Pride is something else.
At the same time, it is difficult when
you overspend on clothes.
That you cannot shake off the feeling that
because I wore it, I'm better.
And I'm better than him and I'm better
than her.
And if that is the intent when you
buy, if you feel that you're gonna be
better because of it, it's better not to
buy that.
It's better not to wear it.
Because it could breed arrogance.
And you're chasing brands and fashion just simply
to feel better about yourself, just simply to
assign some value to your life.
To prove to people that you are someone
and something.
The Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith, on
the one hand, achieve moderation.
كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَالبَسُوا وَتَصَدَّقُوا مَا لَمْ يُخَلِطُهُ إِسْرَافٌ
وَلَا مَخِيلَةٌ He says, eat and drink and
donate and dress as you want.
As long as you are free of two
things, extravagance, wastefulness and pride.
You're not wasteful, you're not prideful, then you
could wear what you want.
At the same time, he said, a couple
of other hadith I wanna share with you.
On the one hand, he said, بَيْنَمَا رَجُلٌ
يَمْشِي فِي حُلَّةٍ لَهُ مُعْجَبٌ بِنَفْسِهِ مُرَجِّلٌ جُمَّتَهُ
فَإِذْ بَلَعَتْهُ الْأَرْضُ فَهُوَ يَتَجَلْجَلُ فِيهَا إِلَى يَوْمِ
الْقِيَامَةِ أو كَمَا قَالَ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّنَةُ إِذْ
خَسَفَتْ بِهِ الْأَرْضُ فَهُوَ يَتَجَلْجَلُ بِهَا إِلَى يَوْمِ
الْقِيَامَةِ He says, while there was a man
walking in clothes of his, admiring himself, after
he had combed his hair filled with self
admiration, he says, the earth swallowed him.
And he will continue to be swallowed by
this earth until the Day of Judgment.
That's the cause of pride.
And to emphasize modesty, he said, عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ
وَالسَّلَامُ مَنْ تَرَكَ الْلِبَاسَ تَوَاضُعًا وَهُوَ يَقْدِرُ عَلَيْهِ
دَعَاهُ اللَّهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَلَى رُؤُوسِ الْخَلَائِقِ حَتَّى
يُخَيِّرَهُ مِنْ أَيِّ حُلَ لِلْإِيمَانِ شَاءً He says,
if a person gives up expensive clothing, though
he can afford it, out of humility, Allah
will invite him on the Day of Judgment
in front of everybody, so that he would
have him choose which of the garments of
paradise he would like to wear.
So this person is rich, and he can
afford it.
But he says, I don't want to stand
out.
I don't want to overspend in something that
I do not need.
I want to be humble.
I want to breathe that humility into my
heart and into my body and into my
family.
I'll buy something that is lesser.
He says, if you do this for the
sake of Allah عز و جل on the
Day of Judgment, the honor is unimaginable.
Because Allah will say, I'll invite you in
front of everybody.
Everybody can see.
Because in this dunya, you didn't want to
be seen.
In the dunya, that's very different than fashion
and culture today.
In the dunya, you did not want to
be seen.
You didn't want to be recognized.
You didn't want to be praised and celebrated.
So Allah praises you and celebrates you on
the Day of Judgment by saying to everybody,
look at him.
And he now will have his pick of
whatever garment of the jannah he wants.
And that is true dignity, and that's true
nobility.
So chasing after, for the sake of arrogance,
is very dangerous.
And we want to restrain that type of
consumerism to save our iman.
Another thing that we should be cautious with
when we decide to wear is not to
imitate the opposite *.
So he said, alayhi salatu wasalam, in one
hadith, لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْمُتَشَبِّهِينَ مِنَ الْرِجَالِ بِالنِّسَاءِ
وَالْمُتَشَبِّهَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ بِالرِّجَالِ May Allah curse, cast
away from His mercy those men who imitate
women and those women who imitate men.
And in the more specific hadith, he said,
alayhi salatu wasalam, لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْرَجُلَ يَلْبِسُ لِبْسَةَ
الْمَرْأَةُ وَالْمَرْأَةُ تَلْبِسُ لِبْسَةَ الْرَجُلِ He said, may
Allah curse, cast away from His mercy a
man who dresses like a woman, and a
woman who dresses like a man.
And the lines in Islam, they have to
be absolutely clear.
As a man, you're not supposed to imitate
women in how they dress, in how they
walk, in how they talk, and women likewise.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam invoking Allah's
curse for people who do this, tell you
that this is a major sin, something that
is extremely serious.
Because when the roles start mixing and you
don't know anymore who is a man and
who is a woman, society collapses, because the
family collapses.
So men are not supposed to wear makeup.
Even though you see it in some cultures
that spread this.
And you see it spreading from one country
to the other.
There's no male makeup.
Females wear makeup inside their house, not outside.
Outside it's a sin.
Men are not supposed to adorn themselves with
jewelry.
So he said, alayhi salatu wassalam, that harir
and dhahab, haramun ala dhukuri ummati.
He says, silk and gold are haram for
the males of my ummah.
You're not supposed to adorn yourself with gold.
You're not supposed to wear silk.
Females they can, but not males.
Because you're supposed to be rugged as a
man.
You're supposed to be strong.
You're supposed to be the leader, the responsible
person.
Not a soft person.
That is reserved for females.
So jewelry is for females, not for men.
Allah said in the Qur'an, awa mayyu
nasha'u fil hilya.
He says, the one who is brought up
around jewelry, trinkets, adornments, who is this?
Females.
In the tafsir they say, that is an
indication that males are not supposed to be
like that.
So I would invite all men, and I
know we don't know this, all men to
abandon such beautification.
Bracelets, necklaces, belong to females.
Not males.
You're not supposed to adorn yourself with that.
Even when you have a ring, the Prophet
ﷺ did not recommend it.
He had it, it's permissible.
And he held it or put it in
the smallest finger.
If you were to wear it, you cannot
wear a ring because it's forbidden in the
index and middle finger.
And some scholars, they also add to it
the thumb.
If you were to wear, it'd be in
the smallest finger.
So, adornment, females.
And you want to see, if women wear
a particular color, a particular type of style,
a particular design, that's for them and never
for you.
And the same thing for females.
If something is specific to males, you don't
dress like that.
And we can remember a time when it
would be unimaginable for a female, even a
Christian female, to leave the house wearing pants.
It would be unimaginable.
You don't have to go far in the
past that they would never wear something like
that.
Why?
Because that is a male attire.
And it's also revealing.
So also this is an indication.
I don't want to quarrel over who said
this and who said that.
This is an invitation to all the sisters
who fear Allah Azza wa Jal.
It says, let go of that thing.
It describes your body.
Even if you say it's loose and what
have you.
It describes your body.
Transition out of that into something that is
less descriptive of your body.
And finally, as it also pertains to men.
Because you sometimes notice this.
And again, the assumption is a lot of
men do not know this.
The way that you style your hair.
So the Prophet ﷺ neha 3ani alqaza.
The Prophet ﷺ forbade qaza.
They said to the sahabi, what is qaza?
He said that he would shave part of
the head and leave the rest.
You would shave part of the head and
you leave the rest.
And it took different forms throughout history.
They would shave this part and leave the
other.
The form that it takes most dominant today
is the sides and the back.
It gets shaved off and you leave the
top.
I know a lot of us may not
know this.
But that is forbidden.
And it opens up the other idea which
is what?
Imitating the disbelievers.
That is something could be in itself permissible.
But when you wear it because a fasiq,
a sinner, a disbeliever is wearing it, it
becomes haram.
Because that's your intention.
If it is known that a particular type
of people dress that way and you dress
like them, the Prophet ﷺ, he said, man
tashabbaha biqawmin fahuwa minhum.
If you imitate a people, you're one of
them.
So choose for yourself.
Who do you wanna be?
Who do you wanna be resurrected with?
Because he said, alayhis salatu was salam, if
you love a people, you will be resurrected
with them.
And when you imitate a people, you surely
will love them.
Or it's coming out of love.
So that's another thing to keep in mind.
A famous this and a famous that.
And because they're famous and because you like
them, you start talking like them, dressing like
them, combing your hair like them, adopting their
ideas, or maybe that's the second stage.
Realize that when you take a step towards
someone that Allah عز و جل dislikes because
of their deeds and lifestyle, you're upsetting Allah
عز و جل.
And it's not an innocent imitation.
So ask Allah رب العالمين أرحم الراحمين to
make us people of taqwa who do what
He loves subhanahu wa ta'ala and stay
away from what He hates.
We ask You, Ya Rabb, that You would
teach us our religion and give us the
strength to follow it, Ya Rabb العالمين.
Ya Allah, make us among the learned on
the face of this earth.
Make us among the strong on the face
of this earth.
Make us among the forgiven on the face
of this earth.
Forgive us all of our sins, Ya أرحم
الراحمين, and the sins of our families and
the sins of the ummah of Muhammad عليه
الصلاة والسلام.
We ask You, Ya Allah, for the best
in this dunya and in the akhirah.
We seek Your protection from the worst in
this dunya and in the akhirah.
اللهم آتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الآخرة حسنة
وقينا عذاب النار.
اللهم يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلوبنا على دينك.
اللهم يا مصرف القلوب صرف قلوبنا على طاعتك.
اللهم أعنا على ذكرك وشكرك وحسن عبادتك.
اللهم انصر المسلمين المستضعفين في كل مكان رب
العالمين.
اللهم أنزل رحمتك على أهل الشام ورب العالمين
وعلى أهل السودان وعلى كل من عانى من
المسلمين في كل مكان.
اللهم انصرهم نصرا مؤزرا.
وكف بأس عدوهم رب العالمين.
اللهم انصرهم نصرا مؤزرا.
اللهم مكفنا عدوهم بما شئت فإنهم لا يعجزونك.
اللهم أطعمهم وأسقهم وأصلح ذات بينهم وأمدهم بمدد
من عندك يا رب العالمين.
اللهم اجعلنا ممن نصرهم ولا تجعلنا ممن خذلهم
وانصرهم يا رب العالمين يا حي يا قيوم
برحمتك نستغيث أصلح لنا شأننا كله ولا تكلنا
إلى أنفسنا طرفة عين.