The Shaykh’s reminder regarding the issue of Islam’s concern with rectifying both the outward and the inward.

The Shaykh : It occurred to me as I sat in your gathering to remind you of a matter that is considered an important principle in Islam, one to which one of the etiquettes of scholarly gatherings is linked. That principle is that, by virtue of the greatness of Islam and the breadth of its guidance and education for its believing followers, it commanded these Muslims to be concerned with rectifying their outward appearance just as it commanded them to rectify their inward selves. There are many hadiths that enumerate landmarks, all of which converge on a single reality: that a Muslim must be concerned with rectifying his outward appearance just as he is concerned with rectifying his inward self. One should not say, as some ignorant or deviant people say, that what matters is the inward and not the outward. The truth is that this statement is partly true and partly false. Islam is concerned with rectifying the inward, but it also expects the rectification of the outward. This is a reality that, as I hinted at earlier, is found scattered throughout many authentic hadiths. I wish to remind you of some of them, particularly those related to the etiquette I mentioned earlier, which is the etiquette of the scholarly gathering.