THE BAROMETER OF IMAAN
THE BAROMETER OF IMAAN
Choice of dress style is the effect of Imaan and kufr. It is precisely for this reason that the Fuqahaa have ruled that adoption of kuffaar dress-style is kufr. The dress itself is not kufr. But the attitude of the heart which constrains a Muslim to adopt a non-Muslim dress-style is kufr since it displays a preference and a desire for something which belongs to the kuffaar. This attitude implies that the kuffaar style is better and more preferable than the style of the Ambiyaa, Sulaha and the Ummah. This is the attitude which exposes a Muslim to the grave danger of kufr.
Qaadhi Baidaawi in his Tafseer of the Qur’aan Majeed states: “Verily, wearing the clothes of aliens (kuffaar), tying a zunnaar (the holy thread of idolaters or the crucifix) and similar other acts have been proclaimed kufr because the acts display (or imply) rejection (of Islam). Most assured, a person who has accented the Rasool (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) will obviously not be so audacious to commit these acts.”
Leaving aside the technical argument pertaining to haraam and Makrooh, the question which has to be asked is: Why would a Muslim give preference to the dress-style of the kuffaar? Why would a Muslim love to walk around with a bare head when 124,000 Ambiyaa, 120,000 Sahaabah and the entire Ummah of Islam from the very inception of this Deen, always covered their heads with a special type of headgear which belongs exclusively to Muslims? If your Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and his Sahaabah always covered their heads, why do you who claim to be their followers, love to bare your head in public like the kuffaar do?
A question for meditation is:
Whose style is it to wander around bare-headed and whose style is it to cover the head in public? The barometer of a man’s Imaan is his dress style. For some it is a barometer for ascertaining the very validity of Imaan, and for others a barometer to test the quality of their Imaan. At the least, kuffaar dress-style is fisq.
Is kuffaar dress, part of the Uswah-e-Hasanah (beautiful life pattern) of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), or is Islamic dress part of this holy life pattern?
AWAKE: RAMADHAAN / SEPTEMBER 1429 / 2008
