• Dress code: Western dresses and indecent dresses
Some people who are engaged in Islamic propagation work surest that Islam forbids wearing Western-type clothes. Please comment.
Those people who speak about the prohibition of certain types of clothes should know better. What is forbidden to wear is any garment, which does not cover the "awrah," which is the part of the body that must not be revealed before any person. When those people say that a suit or time and shirt are forbidden to wear they forget that these are not worn by Westerners only. Muslims wear them in many countries where they are considered ordinary dress. How can these be forbidden?
Having said that, I would like to add that Islam has not made any special requirements with regard to clothes, either for men or women. What it requires is that the awrah must be covered, and that Muslim women should wear wide garments that are not eye-catching, too tight or transparent. These clothes should cover the whole of a woman’s body with the exception of their faces and hands. It also makes it clear that silk garments are forbidden to wear by men. But the style of clothes is not a question to which Islam attaches any importance. When Islam moved into new areas, its ethnic people who adopted Islam continued to wear the types of clothes they used to wear previously. No one ever suggested that they should wear what the Arabs used to wear.
• Drinking what is leftover by another person
Some scholars are of the opinion that it is sunnah to drink what is left over by another person in his glass. How could this be explained in the light of the fact that certain diseases can be transmitted this way?
It is certainly not a sunnah to drink what someone else has left over in his glass. When we say that it is a sunnah, it means that Islam recommends it. To have such a recommendation, we need to have some sort of instructions by the Prophet. There is none in this particular case.
But we have to understand that in such a situation it is not sufficient that the Prophet had shared the same glass or cup with other people. In order to make sure that we know what he has recommended, he would have followed that with a verbal statement of some sort. The absence of any, means that it is not a sunnah.
It is true that we have some reports which tell us that the Prophet was offered some drink when there were so many people. There was little amount of that drink in the container. The Prophet drank from it and passed it over to the person sitting next to him. He drank his fill and passed it over again. The same was repeated over and over again until everyone drank as much as he wanted. But that was a special case and one of many incidents in the life of the Prophet which Allah facilitated in order to reassure those early Muslims that they were following the true religion taught by the Messenger of Allah who always spoke the truth.
As you say, certain diseases could be transmitted through such a practice, which means, by necessity, that it could not be recommended by Islam.
What is the best form of blessing the Prophet. How many times should it be said every day? What do you think of the book called Dala'il Al-Khairat, a collection of "Duroods".
I have on several occasions warned against using Dala'il Al-Khairat because it includes phrases and things that are totally unacceptable from the Islamic point of view. I repeat my advice to all not to use this book on any occasion.
To bless the Prophet or, to use the Islamic term, to ask Allah to grant him peace and blessings, is required of a Muslim. There is no minimum or maximum of times which should be met. It is perfectly sufficient to say, "Salla Allahu alayhi wa aalehee wa sallam", when his name is mentioned. It is, on the other hand, also appropriate to remind oneself that the Prophet has delivered his message intact and given us good counsel and showed us the way to earn Allah's pleasure. Moreover, the form which we use in the last part of our regular prayer requesting Allah to grant peace and blessings to the Prophet and his household as he did to Ibrahim and his household is known to be the best form in this regard. Using it outside prayer is perfectly appropriate.
| Back | Contents | Next |