On ‘sagging’, tattoos and masculinized girls
Brethren, Islam is sui generis in its concern for decency and modesty. It has therefore laid down certain guidelines and regulations for Muslims in reference to the dressing styles that the Almighty is pleased with. For example, it stipulates that the female puts on the Hijab. This refers to the head-covering for women. Some among […]
Brethren, Islam is sui generis in its concern for decency and modesty. It has therefore laid down certain guidelines and regulations for Muslims in reference to the dressing styles that the Almighty is pleased with. For example, it stipulates that the female puts on the Hijab. This refers to the head-covering for women. Some among Muslim sisters, in obeisance to this injunction, choose to cover their entire bodies, including their faces and hands.
The Muslim woman is expected to put on the hijab on her cloth before she ventures into the ‘world’. Aisha, the wife of the Prophet is reported to have said that Asma, daughter of AbuBakr, once entered upon the Apostle of Allah (s.a.w) wearing thin clothes. The Prophet turned his attention from her and said: “O Asma’, when a woman reaches the age of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her parts of body except this and this” (and he pointed to her face and hands. For men, the minimum part of the body to be covered is between the navel and the knee.
Again brethren, you and I know that no matter our gender, our clothes should be loose on our body, not tight. It should be loose enough so as not to outline or distinguish the shapes of our body. Skin-tight, body-hugging clothes are not permitted for the Muslim male and female. In other words, reference to clothing materials that is loose means that Muslim males and females should avoid see- through materials. Our Prophet (s.a.w) once warned that in later generations, there would be people “who are dressed yet naked.” See-through clothing is not modest, for either men or women.
Some critics of Islam and Muslim culture have assumed that the head covering of a woman is meant to show her inferiority to men. This could not be further from the truth. In Islam, a woman who observes the hijab commands respect; she is considered to be modest and through her modesty she becomes free of rampant sexual harassment in the society.
Further, Islam teaches that the consequences of immodesty fall not only on the individual but also upon the society that encourages women to display themselves and compete with one another over illicit sexual exposure. This particularly evident in the advertising industry where the success of every commercial product is hinged on the extent to which the woman’s body is labelled and exposed. But this is part of modernity. But Islam says no. Islam says the liberation of the woman lies in the content of her character not in the unwarranted display of her physical features. Islam says the liberated woman is she who is not enslaved to her body; it is she who does not consider herself as sexual boon for men who is actually liberated.
Brethren, Islam encourages Muslims to be proud of their identities. To be proud of your identity is to refuse to look like the other- a useless imitations of people of other faiths around you. Thus my sister should be proud of her femininity and should not dress like men; my brother should be proud of his masculinity and not try to imitate women in their dressing. For this reason, Muslim men are forbidden from wearing gold or silk, as these are considered feminine accessories. The Messenger of Allah cursed men who made themselves look like women and women who made themselves look like men. He says: “There are two categories among the people of the Fire …people who have whips like the tails of cattle with which they beat people, and women who are both dressed and naked, who are deviant and make others deviant. Their heads resemble the humps of Bactrian camels. They will not enter the Garden nor even smell its scent, and its scent can be discerned at such-and-such a distance”. Thus dressing with modesty is nothing but one aspect of the Islamic standard. It is not modesty for you to be clean in appearance but dirty in action. Islam also discourages a situation where the real reason you put on your clothe is to gain the admiration or sympathy of others; you cannot find any justification in Islamic law or lore for any indulgence in incivility and vulgarity.
Brethren, the real message behind this sermon today is that we must constantly make Islam our standard. We must endeavour to avoid the temptation to make other people’s way of life a benchmark for ours. Once you accept a ‘standard’, you can never ‘win’, in a world which is fashioned after struggle and toil, unless you measure up to that ‘standard’. Once we accept the un-Islamic standard, we will never be called winners until we become supremely un-Islamic.
What grieves me more today is simply not the tendency for the youth to be copy-cats: ‘carriers’ of fashion trends from outside our shores. The real problem lies in that this ‘fashion’ statement go against the will of the Almighty as exemplified by the Prophet: that men should avoid adornments that are meant for women and vice versa; that it is a grievous sin to seek to change your nature through tattoo.
Brethren, exactly what ‘fashion’ lies in wearing trousers in a way that that shows your underwear? What style of parenting is that which sees boys wear earrings only to dismiss it as the latest ‘fashion’ in town? Brethren, these ‘fashion’ trends speak to the mentality and world-view of this generation: a generation which is born and raised in Africa but whose thought is fixated on America; a generation which purports to face the Kaaba but whose mind is fixated upon Atlanta. As parents, we shall be held responsible for the virtue we imparted into our children; we shall answer for the vices which corrode their humanity while they subsist under our care.