بسم ال الرحمن الرحيم ! Deoband.org ISLAMIC DRESS CODE AND THE QAMĪṢ OF ﷺ THE MESSENGER OF ALLĀH Abu Asim Badrul Islam ! Introduction The precursor of this article was written in 1997 during my student days at the madrasah of Shaykh Muhammad Fayzullah (may Allah have mercy on him), located in his village in Chittagong, Bangladesh. At the time, it was a direct translation of a brief discussion in Shaykh Izharul Islam’s Urdu commentary of Shaykh Muhammad Fayzullah’s Persian poetry, Pand Nāma-e-Khāki. This was a book that we had to study during our first year of naḥw (Arabic grammar) studies1 - perhaps as more of a pleasure pursuit than serious study, as it was Persian poetry; most students were good at this and enjoyed it. Shaykh Muhammad Fayzullah was the grand mufti of Bangladesh and was one of the finest scholars and ascetic spiritual masters produced by that land. He died in 1396/1976. When the original was written, it was written in a particular polemic setting in Chittagong (and in other parts of Bangladesh at the time). It was written with the objective of proving that the long qamῑṣ that does not have slits to the sides is the sunnah garment for Muslim men, and that the shorter qamῑṣ that has slits of varying lengths to the sides is not the sunnah. Today, eighteen years later, I no longer believe this to be the case. What this article, in its current rewritten and extended form, does, however, seek to establish is that, if anything, the long qamῑṣ that has no slits to the sides may be the closest to what was worn by the Messenger of .and his companions ﷺ All"h Islamic dress code #All"mah Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Usmani (b. 1362/1943), in his popular commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, states that Isl"m does not specify what type of clothing a Muslim must wear. That is, it does not dictate specific descriptions of items of clothing. It acknowledges that man has been created with a disposition to love variety in food and clothing. Therefore, Isl"m does not seek to curb this disposition by restricting it to specific items of clothing or to a specific attire. Isl"m simply lays down universal mandatory principles that must be abided by in the matter of clothing. As long as these principles are conformed to, every Muslim man and woman is left free to choose what he or she wears. The core of these principles are: • Clothing must cover the area of the body that is considered ʿawrah. This varies between man and woman significantly. The ʿawrah of a man is the region from his navel to his knees (including the knees). The ʿawrah of a woman is her entire body with the 1 The madrasah had four years of naḥw studies. Page | !2 ! ! exception of her face, hands and feet.2 The covering of the ʿawrah is the most important purpose of clothing. Allāh Most Magnificent says: يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي سَوْآتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا ۖ “O Children of Ādam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you.” (Sūrah Al-Aʿrāf: 26) • Clothing must adorn the wearer. Beauty and adornment are desired by Islām, as long as they are kept within the limits of the Sharīʿah and, very importantly, the laws of ḥijāb are not violated. Allāh Most Magnificent says: يَا بَنِي آدَمَ خُذُوا زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِ مَسْجِدٍ “O Children of Ādam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer.” (Sūrah Al-Aʿrāf: 31) قُلْ مَنْ حَرَمَ زِينَةَ اللَـهِ الَتِي أَخْرَجَ لِعِبَادِهِ وَالطَيِبَاتِ مِنَ الرِزْقِ “Say: Who has prohibited the adornment Allāh has brought forth for His servants, and the wholesome things of sustenance?” (Sūrah Al-Aʿrāf: 32) Imām Al-Nasāʾī reports from Abu ‘l-Aḥwaṣ, who reports from his father, who said: عن أبي الحوص عن أبيه قال: كنت جالسا عند رسول ال صلى ال عليه وسلم – يعني – فرآني رث الثياب. فقال: ألك مال؟ قلت: نعم يا رسول ال، من كل الال. قال: فإذا آتاك ال مالفلير أثره عليك. (سن النسائي) He saw me wearing old tattered clothes and asked, ‘Do .ﷺ I was sitting near the Messenger of Allāh“ 2 It must be noted here that there is a difference between ʿawrah and ḥijāb. Many confuse one with the other, or draw no distinction between both. For a detailed discussion on this see: Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (2010), The Hijab of Women and its Boundaries. [Online] Available from: http://www.deoband.org/2010/06/hadith/hadith-commentary/the-hijab-of- women-and-its-boundaries/. [Accessed: 26 July 2015]; Mufti Husain Kadodia (2009), The Niqab And its Obligation in The Hanafi Madhhab. [Online] Available from: http://www.deoband.org/2009/04/contemporary-voices/the-niqab-and-its-obligation- in-the-hanafi-madhhab/. [Accessed: 26 July 2015]. Page | !3 ! ! you have wealth?’ I replied, “Yes, O Messenger of Allāh – from every type of wealth.” He said, “When Allāh has granted you wealth, its signs should be visible on you.”3 :said ﷺ Im"m al-Tirmidh& reports that the Messenger of All"h عن عمرو بن شعيب عن أبيه عن جده ، قال: قال رسول ال صلى ال عليه وسلم: إن ال يحب أن يرى أثر نعمته على عبده. (سن الترمذي) “Allāh loves that the signs of His blessings be visible4 upon His servant.”5 • Clothing must not be such that, by wearing it, the Muslim resembles non-Muslims. Im"m Ibn Nujaym (d. 970/1563) states: “Know that resemblance with the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) is not disliked in everything. For, we eat and drink just as they do. Resemblance is ḥarām in only those things that are blameworthy and with which resemblance is intended. This is how Qāḍī Khān has mentioned it in Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Saghīr. Based on this, if resemblance is not intended, it will not be disliked.” • Clothing of silk is ḥarām for men, but not for women. Likewise, wearing the lower garment below the ankles is ḥarām for men, but not for women.6 Bearing the above basic principles in mind, let us now look at what type of qamῑṣ the .and his companions may have worn ﷺ Messenger of All"h and his companions ﷺ The qamῑṣ of the Messenger of Allāh favourite item of ﷺ It is reported in the books of 'adῑth that the Messenger of All"h’s clothing was the qamῑṣ. Im"ms Nas"%ῑ, Ab$ D"w$d, Tirmidhῑ and Ibn M"jah report in their respective books of Sunan: 3 Abu #Abd al-Ra'm"n A'mad ibn Shu#ayb al-Nas"%&, Sunan al-Nasāʾī (Al-Mujtabā), 8 vols. (Cairo: D"r al-Ta%(&l, 1436/2015) 8:159, 'ad&th 5267. 4 The wording of the actual 'ad&th may also be read: “All"h loves to see […]”. 5 Abu #*s" Mu'ammad ibn #*s" ibn Sawrah al-Tirmidh&, Al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr (Sunan al-Tirmidhī), 6 vols. (Beirut: Al-Ris"lat al- #+lamiyyah, 1430/2009), ed. Shu#ayb al-Arna%$,, 5:100, 'ad&th 3029. 6 For the full discussion, see: Mu'ammad Taq& al-#Uthm"n&, Takmilat Fatḥ al-Mulhim bi Sharḥ Saḥīḥ Muslim, 6 vols. (Damascus: D"r al-Qalam, 1427/2006) 4:53. Page | !4 ! ! 7 عن أم سلمة i قالت: كان أحب الثياب إلى رسول ال ﷺ القميص. ”.favourite item of clothing was the qamῑṣ ﷺ Umm Salamah (ra) said: “The Messenger of Allāh’s The word ‘qamῑṣ’ is still used for items of clothing in Arabic and various other Muslim cultures. For example, in south Asia the word ‘kameez’ is used for the upper flowing shirt that women wear, usually with a matching pair of trousers called ‘shalwar’. Arabs, today, call a shirt a ‘qamῑṣ’. This includes the long robe that is worn by Arab men (for example, the popular national white robe worn by Saudi Arabian men) as well as the western, much shorter, shirt that is worn with suit and tie. The qamῑṣ of south Asian Muslim men, usually referred to as the ‘kurta’ – which, due to historical reasons, is also worn by other faith communities of India – is much different to that of the Arabs. Likewise, the shirt that accompanies the traditional Turkish salvar is different to the Arab qamῑṣ and the south Asian kameez or kurta. A study of the history of the clothing worn by various nations reveals that, with the passing of time, their clothing underwent a process of evolution. Often, the specific clothing that a nation, or communities within a nation, adopted was influenced by religion, social and economic factors, geography, the materials available and, importantly, climate. Imām ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014/1605), in his commentary on the Shifā of Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (d. 544/1149), quotes Ibn Khallikān (d. 681/1282) as stating regarding Imām Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798), who was the most senior student of Imām Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 150/767): 8 ه|و أول م|ن دع|ي ب|قاض|ي ال|قضاة وي|قال إن|ه أول م|ن غ|ير ل|باس ال|علماء إل|ى ه|ذه اله|يئة ال|تي ه|م ع|ليها الن ، وك|ان م|لبوس 9 الناس قبل ذلك شيئا واحدا، ل يتميز أحد عن أحد بلباس . “He was the first to be given the title of Qāḍi ’l-quḍāt (lit. judge of judges – i.e. chief judge). It is said that he was the first to change the attire of the ʿulamāʾ to what it is today.