Explanation of the report of Abu Khaladah

The Shaykh : After that, he cited a report (athar), not a hadith. It is narrated from Abu Khaladah who said: "Abd al-Karim Abu Umayyah came to Abu al-Aliyyah, wearing woolen clothes. Abu al-Aliyyah said: 'These are the clothes of the monks. If the Muslims were to adorn themselves when visiting one another.'" Here, there are two pious men who differ in their appearance during visits. The first is Abd al-Karim Abu Umayyah. This Abd al-Karim is named Abd al-Karim ibn Abi al-Mukharriq, and his kunyah is Abu Umayyah. If he narrated a hadith, his narration would be rejected because he had a poor memory, but he was righteous in himself. As for the second man in this story, he is Abu al-Aliyyah, who is among the great scholars of the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), and among their trustworthy and memorizing ones. That righteous man, Abd al-Karim Abu Umayyah, visited Abu al-Aliyyah, the noble man, and Abd al-Karim was wearing woolen clothes. This is an indication that the man was also careless about himself, not adorning himself with beautiful clothing when he came as a visitor to this noble man. So Abu al-Aliyyah hinted to him with disapproval, saying: "These are the clothes of the monks." And we all know that the monks are the worshippers of the Christians who left the world and its adornment and beauty, and withdrew into monasteries, corners, and hermitages. But this is not permissible for the Muslim, because Islam came with the middle path that combines the right of the body and the right of the soul. Our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) says in the Noble Qur'an: , and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says in the authentic hadith: . He said this in the context of physical beauty, not in the context of adopting good morals, as the contemporary books do, citing this hadith for adopting beautiful good morals. They say: The Messenger (peace be upon him) says: . And this hadith came on the occasion of physical beauty, where he was asked:The questioner : One of us loves to be seen wearing good clothes. It is a long hadith that I have mentioned more than once, so the answer is: But with the condition of avoiding arrogance, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the same hadith I mentioned earlier, a part of which is: He said: Another said: A garment... is this from arrogance? He said: No. A third said: He has two good sandals; is that from arrogance? He said: No. This is not from arrogance. They said: What is arrogance? He said: ; So, adorning oneself with good clothing in a Muslim's visit to his Muslim brother is an Islamic etiquette. And the Messenger confirmed that in a hadith in "Musnad al-Imam Ahmad" and others, that a man, who seemed to be a Bedouin, came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in a shabby state. He said: O so-and-so, do you not have wealth? He said: From all wealth, Allah has given us camels, cows, and sheep; I have of everything. He said: .