In some schools, they require students to wear trousers and stop wearing the thobe; is there any advice for them?

The questioner : Another question?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : There, in this school, they also require the sons to wear trousers, so I refused, and I left my son always wearing the thobe, the shirt, but what happened was that they kept repeating it.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : They always tell him: wearing trousers is better, so we wrote to them and informed them of what this trouser brings about in terms of restricting the awrah (part of the body that must be covered) and imitating the disbelievers; so it would be good if you had some advice for them?

The Shaykh : Are you recording now?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Ah, there is no doubt that it is obligatory for those in charge of the school—especially private schools—since they are not bound by a general system that they have no power to change; therefore, they should mention his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . There is no doubt that the manager of the private school or its board of directors is responsible for guiding the students, especially if they are young. It is well known that: "Knowledge in youth is like an engraving on stone." So they must raise them with Islamic education taken from the Book and the Sunnah, not from the environments they live in, which are deviated from the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) to a great or small extent. This trouser is not known except in this era, when Muslims were first tested with the military colonization of their lands by the disbelievers, and then with cultural or intellectual colonization second. So the trouser is from the clothing of the disbelievers, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited imitating the disbelievers by general and specific texts. Among the specific texts are those related to clothing, where = ... = and among them is: that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) wearing the clothing of the disbelievers, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and the hadith is in "Sahih Muslim."
As for the general texts, they are well known, and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) collected them in the best collection and explained them in the best explanation in his unique book: "Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim Mukhalafat Ahl al-Jahim" (Following the Straight Path by Opposing the People of the Hellfire). And among the most comprehensive of them is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . "Whoever imitates a people is one of them": This is a very great Islamic principle that Muslims began to neglect and turn away from since those disbelievers mentioned earlier colonized their lands. So wearing the trouser, in addition to representing the taste of the disbelievers, is that these disbelievers, as their Lord the World of Existence described them rightly by His saying (Mighty and Majestic): , these people, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said in this verse: ; and therefore, exposing the awrah (part of the body that must be covered) of the women among them, let alone the men, is a matter with no blame.
And thus this infection spread to the Muslims, women and men, in varying degrees, some of which is absolute nudity in women, and even in some men, those who wear what is called in Arabic "tubban" and in the modern foreign language "shorts," where they expose their thighs; especially in their ball games of various types and forms, in addition to the tabarruj (a woman's display of her adornment) of women who expose their necks and their arms, in addition to wearing what restricts their limbs, in addition to men who wear this trouser, which outlines the awrah (part of the body that must be covered) of the thigh; and even what is between the thighs sometimes. The matter reached the point that they pray like this, especially in the congregational prayer when the rows are standing, so the one who bows, the "trouser-wearer," prostrates, and the eyes of the one behind him fall upon his testicles between his buttocks, which are outlined. The disbelievers do not look with all these looks.
So those who wear the trouser from those who are accountable, or who dress the young ones from among these accountable people; these people's tastes have become corrupt and turned into non-Islamic tastes, and this, as was said long ago:
"These are our traces that indicate us *** So look after us at the traces"
Therefore, it is obligatory for those in charge of raising these children in schools, whether they are young or old, to train them and accustom them to the Islamic dress and Islamic clothing; because the matter, as we said earlier, is: "Knowledge in youth is like an engraving on stone." So this student, young or old, if he leaves the school wearing the "trouser"—if this expression is correct—he will live like that, and it will be very difficult for him to return to the Islamic dress.