BMJM Northampton – Mosque & Islamic Centre
Description: Knowing, Doing, Becoming
One hadith states: ‘Whoever dresses in clothes of attracting attention ( shuhrah , lit. ‘fame’) in this life, Allah shall clothe him in garbs of humiliation on the Day of Resurrection.’ 1 The way we dress can and often does, therefore, have to do with the inward state of our souls. We are told in the scholarly commentaries that attracting attention means: To dress so that fingers start pointing at you, because of being extravagantly, unusually, or shabbly dressed, relative to the rest of society. In such a
As for ladies, their dress is for concealment ( satr ) and recognition ( ta‘arruf ). On the one hand they dress in order to conceal their personal beauty and charm; on the other, their hijab -attire is so that they may be known [Q.33:59] who they are and what they stand for. That it must be black, or Saudi-styled, is likely to be a bid‘ah if one believes that is what is religiously-sanctioned. Instead, one finds godly and intelligent ways to make the attire reflect being locally rooted and practical, while
________________ 1. Abu Dawud, no.4029; Ibn Majah, no.3606. The hadith was graded hasan in Muhammad b. Muflih, al-Adab al-Shar‘iyyah (Beirut: Mu’assasah al-Risalah, 1999), 3:497. 2. Cf. Shams al-Din al-Sarkhasi, Kitab al-Mabsut (Beirut: Dar al-Ma‘rifah, 1989), 30:268; al- Mawsu‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah (Kuwait: Wizarat al-Awqat wa’l-Shu’un al-Islamiyyah, 1986), 6:136-37. 3. ‘Ali b. Sulayman al-Mardawi, al-Insaf fi Ma‘rifat al-Rajihi min al-Khilaf ‘ala Madhhab al- Imam al-Mubajjal Ahmad b. Hanbal (Egypt: Matba‘ah al-
BMJM Northampton – Mosque & Islamic Centre