The Word of mAn[S]o0r: Is a particular dress really representative of your faith ??

Another discussion going on in a group im on is on the "Islamic Dress". For long, i was puzzled as to why people referred to shalwar kameez as an islamic dress.. and consequently, got me into thinking, is a particular dress really representative of your faith ??

Now, if you think about it... how can a shalwar kameez be representative of Islam ? I dont see Saudi's wearing shalwar kameezes ?? they have those long robes.. and the headband. And if wearing shalwar qameez was islamic would that mean, no one the colder (or hotter) area's of this world can be a muslim ? A shalwar qameez is largely a tropical dress. From what i've seen, the caps and crosses seem more representative of faith rather than the full dress.

A respected member of the group had this to day from the Koran and Hadith about the dress code is islam. Barring point three, the rest seem very adequate.

We should turn to our Creator to seek guidance for the proper dress code. Qur'an and Sunnah have provided ample guidance on the subject which can be summarized in four essential principles.
Our dress must cover our body adequately. Again we cannot determine what is adequate coverage on our own, as any witness to the misery of those who have tried it can readily ascertain. Shar'iah, as always, takes us out of this misery by defining it for us. For men, it is the middle part of the body from navel to knee. For women, it is the entire body except hands and face. These parts must never be exposed to any other person (except in case of genuine need e.g. medical treatment). In addition, the cloth must be neither see-through nor tight fitting. ~~(Pent exposes the secret (middle) parts of the body )~~

Our dress should provide adornment. It should provide for decent appearance. Our appearance should not be an eyesore for decent human beings. For men, this extends the coverage requirements to include most of the body. For women, the essential requirement is that their dress should identify them as respectable ladies who would be honored not harassed. Additionally, hijab rules aim at protecting them from the gaze of other men.
~~Our dress should establish our Islamic identity. At the least it should not identify us as followers of another religion. But, additionally it should positively identify us as Muslims.~~
The design of our dress must avoid three deadly sins: show off, arrogance, and self indulgence. These are very serious diseases of the heart in their own right that we must avoid at all times. Our garments provide an easy opportunity to nurture them. Hence the need to be extra cautious. One Hadith states "Eat what you feel like and wear what you feel like. But avoid two things: extravagance and arrogance." [Bukhari]. At the risk of stating the obvious one should be reminded that this Hadith establishes an overriding concern that limits our choices within the realm of what is considered halal. It does not do away with the distinction between halal and haram.

Labels: speaking out