With regards to a baby girl’s clothing, what guidelines should one adhere to when one chooses clothes to buy for her? Personally, I do not like to dress my daughter with short sleeves and with her legs exposed (i.e. the bodysuit that she wears only comes up till the groin area), so I try to avoid these types of clothing. I still put these clothing on for her as she is still swaddled in a blanket, so people are not able to see her arms and legs. I try my best to look for clothes that cover her body entirely but this can be difficult at times.
Should I only let her wear long sleeved clothes with full length trousers or is this just making things cumbersome upon myself as she is not yet baalighah? Would it also be ok to dress her in clothes such as short dresses or short skirts but at the same time, making her wear leggings? Or is this considered imitating the kuffaars’ way of dressing?
A. Avoid kuffaar dress for your baby. Try to dress her fully as you have mentioned. If decent ready-made dresses are not available, then have proper dresses sewn for her. The tarbiyat (Deeni training) of a child commences from infancy – from the day the child is born and hence the Athaan and Iqaamah are recited as soon as possible on the very day the child is born.
By dressing her Islamically you will not be “making things cumbersome’, neither for yourself nor for your baby. Don’t expect to begin training your daughter when she has attained buloogh. It will then be too late. By attending to her Islamic dress code from infancy, she will abhor un-Islamic dress when she is baalighah. Haya must be cultivated from infancy. Dresses for even babies should be long.
