The Importance of Muslims Distinguishing Themselves from Others

The Shaykh : And on this basis, the Muslim should, in every place, as I said once before, if a helicopter were to descend and transport him from his Islamic country and drop him in a land full of disbelievers, when they see him, they must say, "This is a Muslim." Why? Because he bears the symbol of Islam from every side, from every side. But where are the Muslims?
The student : For example, if you came to one of the Arab countries that hides the Islamic symbol and is dominated by the dress of the Christians.

The Shaykh : The disbeliever.
The student : The disbeliever, and if you took, for example, a disbeliever from Brazil and brought him into these countries, he would not consider them a Muslim land.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed, unfortunately.
The student : And therefore, we differ with some of our scholars and people of knowledge when they say that there is no evidence regarding wearing trousers and the like.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
The student : Because it has become a common thing, and this is not perceived except by a person whom Allah has guided to know the meaning of the Sunnah, the meaning of imitation, and the meaning of distinction.

The Shaykh : Distinction. These, Professor, Abu Yusuf, these are the scholars you are referring to.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Regarding the timing in Makkah, I did not mention it here in the recording.

The Shaykh : I did not conduct an experiment there.

The questioner : I did not conduct an experiment there.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : But for the sake of benefit, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.

The questioner : Regarding distinguishing ourselves from the Jews in clothing or dress, may Allah reward you. We paused to consider the opinion of some scholars.

The Shaykh : Yes, this reminds me of what I mentioned about some scholars who do not see anything wrong with wearing trousers and the like because it has become, as they say, a widespread custom. These scholars certainly do not keep in mind the hadiths I mentioned earlier that command the Muslim to distinguish himself from the disbeliever, even in something he does not control, such as his black or blond hair, or until he reaches old age and his hair turns white. The Master of Mankind (peace and blessings be upon him) and the Commander of the Hour, as Anas ibn Malik said, did not let Allah (Mighty and Majestic) make his hair white, because there were only a few white hairs in the front of his beard. Nevertheless, he (peace and blessings be upon him) used to dye his hair with henna and katam. So, these scholars who are lenient regarding the issue of clothing on the basis of that excuse mentioned earlier, namely commonality and prevalence, do not pay attention to the command of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for Muslims to distinguish themselves from the disbelievers, even in dyeing white hair. Therefore, students of knowledge, and scholars even more so, should alert all Muslims to the obligation of preserving their customs and traditions inherited from their Muslim fathers, so that they may strike with their traditions against the traditions in which they have imitated the disbelievers. Well, this is enough for now, and after that.
The student : The hadith: "Whoever imitates a people is one of them."

The Shaykh : Now the problem has become with us.