بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
If our appearances were supposed to blend in with cultures around us, as some modern Muslim academics are suggesting, Rasulullah ﷺ would not have said:
خَالِفُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَحْفُوا الشَّوَارِبَ وَأَوْفُوا اللِّحَى. متفق عليه
“ Act against the polytheists, trim closely the moustache and grow the beard.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
The face is the most salient feature of human appearance followed by the head. If the over-riding principle in Islam was to blend and be “look-a-likes” then the first place it would have been implemented would have been the face. Clearly it is not.
It is one thing to say that is not compulsory to wear clothes closest to Sunnah and quite another to say that it is wrong to wear it, especially for Ulama who are role models in society and inheritors of the Prophets. Did it not occur to these academics that the clergy in all faiths wear distinctive clothes for good reason?
And what about the unambiguous imperative to love Rasulullah ﷺ more than we love our own selves? Following his Sunnah as close as we can is a form of expression of love for him. In this society, when people fall in love with celebrities they go to great lengths to dress exactly like them even when the fashion is ludicrously vulgar or repulsive and yet not one criticises them because it is seen as an expression of their love for these individuals. Why is the modesty and simplicity of Sunnah suddenly a thing to challenge and discard in a society that prides itself with freedom of choice especially in the realm of clothes? To challenge and degrade Sunnah in a society where the only rule on clothing seems to be that you can wear anything as long as it does not uncover the few millimetres of your crinkled bits, is mind bogglingly ridiculous.
Abu Yusuf
