What
to
Wear

You know,

we have to wonder "why do we cover ourselves with clothes,

with skins and fabrics?"

Well, apart from the practical side

of protecting ourselves from the world we live in and its weather,

I suppose there's adornment,
beautifying ourselves in ways that express our different personalities.

Is that not part of the nature of what we wear?

Certainly adornment is one purpose for clothing

mentioned in the Qur'an,

but alongside it is the other purpose which is covering.

We use clothing to hide parts of ourselves,

keep parts of ourselves private, don't we?

So shouldn't we try to understand why?

It is said that when Adam and Eve fell from the Garden of Eden,

Satan stripped away what clothed them and they were shamed by what they saw.

But what did they see, apart from those bits of themselves that remind us that we are still animals?

The bits through which we get rid of our poisonous and noxious waste products.

And how much self-control do we have as far as those bits are concerned?

Not much,

perhaps a few hours before our animal nature takes over

and does whatever it has to do to get rid of the waste

whether we are still wearing our pants or not.

Do you think it's easy to keep up

an air of arrogant superiority in that state?

And isn't it weird that the same bits are involved when people want to have babies?

Which means that humans can find those bits have a strange but powerful attraction for their opposite sex,

and tend to keep that dangerous stuff private from all but their partners.

They cover what repels those around them

as well as what attracts them.

They separate themselves from the animals

and show modesty.

Muhammad the Messenger said that

a defining part of Islam is Modesty.

And that modesty needs to come from within,

be a part of a Muslim's inner character.

Beautification, good grooming is encouraged in Islam,

beginning with the requirement for personal hygiene

involved in washing for the Sala.

But adornment should also show modesty

with regard to any physical beauty given by Allah

With regard to someone showing modesty, however,

which do you think is more important,

the way that they dress or the way that they behave?

And isn't modesty expressed culturally,

in ways recognised by a group,

whether in the manner of their dress,

their speech or their actions?

Doesn't each culture have its own Adab,

its own ideas of good manners?

Now there are those who say that

it is impossible to understand the culture of one time

when looking through the cultural lens of another.

But if we are to discover the example of the Messenger

is it not crucial that we explore the whole lifestyle of those early muslims,

understand the ways of thinking of the Messenger's wives and companions,

and be able to imagine what it was truly like?

What were their houses like?

What were they made of?

I'm sure that they didn't have glass windows,

but did they all have wooden doors?

What sort of furniture did they have?

what sort of possessions?

Where did they go to the toilet?

I'm sure they didn't have much plumbing,

so how did they get their water and store it?

Did they use pots of clay or metal?

How did they cook?

and what did they eat and drink?

What did they do for entertainment?

And of course, what did they wear?

What do we know of the dress codes

of the culture into which

the Messenger was born?

Clearly the ways that people dressed

would suit the place and climate,

and reflect the wide gaps in wealth

between the richest of free men

and the slaves that they owned,

who owned almost nothing.

Now I'm pretty sure that with the combination of extreme heat and extreme poverty, nakedness would have been widespread.

Nakedness was a sign of slavehood and utter poverty,

and the poorest would have to make do with a piece of cloth tied around their waist,

and like many an African village or south sea island,

both men and women would commonly have been seen bare breasted.

But for men and women who could afford them

there were simple clothes that gave more protection from the sun and dirt,

and privacy from prying eyes.

Meanwhile the wealthy could afford layers of rich fabrics,

that trailed on the ground behind them as they walked,

and just as now they would display their wealth

by wearing gold and jewels.

Free women of wealth and class would even go veiled,

to show their superiority.

Not knowing who they were, no-one could address them directly,

whereas they could choose when

and with whom

if they did have a need to speak to anyone.

The extremely wealthy must have lived surrounded by the near naked poor,

while around the Ka'aba,

pilgrims often made circuits naked by tradition.

So, what changed with the coming of the Message?

Do we really see a concern amongst the companions

for imposing a form of dress that follows specific and precise limits,

in the way that they are now

detailed and defined by so many men

and readily spoken of as religious laws?

Just how close is what we wear now

to what was worn at the time of the Messenger?

What has changed over time and place,

and what is constant?

As the Message spread,

clothes that suited the baking heat of the desert

were never going to be appropriate for

the snowy mountaintops

and deep jungles

that also became part of the world of Islam,

so people kept the clothes that worked for their own climate,

clothes that suited the worldly tasks that kept them alive,

local styles that were seen as modest and appropriate.

And different places

had different cultures

with different local styles,

and what changed and varied was just external,

but what was constant was the motivation,

the way of wearing,

the intention behind the use of the clothing.

What made it appropriate for a muslim was its modesty,

a style that reflected a way of being,

not a legally defined and imposed uniformity.

Does it make sense to think that

forcing someone to dress a certain way

will change their way of life for the better

from the outside in?

Does it not make more sense to think that

accepting a change in our way of being

is more likely to change things from the inside out,

and on the way transform our way of wearing clothes?

But here's a question.

Why,

when there is talk of muslim clothing

does it seem that almost all the discussion is about

what women may and may not, must and must not wear?

Why is so little said about any rules and regulations for men?

Why is it hard to find more than a pamphlet or two published about men's clothing

in comparison to whole libraries written about the legal requirements concerning women's dress?

Is clothing really so crucial to a woman's deen

and yet almost an irrelevance to the deen of a man?

Maybe we should look at what happened back then

when the Messenger was alive.

What led to these opinions we so often hear now?

Is there a way for muslim men to dress?

Do women have to cover their breasts?

What happened on the night of the Wedding Party?

What do we think about hands and faces?