His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) to Abu Bakr regarding letting the garment hang below the ankles (

Abu Ishaq: All right, regarding shortening the shirt, and the hadith of the incident of Abu Bakr with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when: Is this a specific incident? Or is it permissible for a man to lengthen his garment, provided it is not out of arrogance or the like?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible for a Muslim to intentionally lengthen his garment on the claim that he does not do so out of arrogance, for two reasons. The first reason—and this relates to the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to Abu Bakr that I mentioned earlier —is that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) did not adopt a long garment, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: . His (peace and blessings be upon him) statement was only a response to Abu Bakr’s claim that the garment was slipping off him, making it as if he had lengthened his tail. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) answered him that he would not be held accountable for this because he did not do it intentionally. Therefore, it is not permissible for us to associate with Abu Bakr people who intentionally lengthen their tails and then say, “We do not do it out of arrogance.” The incident of Abu Bakr does not support these people in any way. The other reason is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) established a system for the Muslim regarding his garment and the extent to which he is permitted to lengthen it. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Here, the cause mentioned in the authentic hadith is not present: . This is a heavier sin than the sin of one who lengthens his lower garment below his calves. In other words, intentionally lengthening the lower garment below the calves—regardless of whether he did it out of arrogance or not—his doer is held accountable for it and is in the Fire. But if this violation of the Prophetic system regarding the halfway point of the calf is accompanied by lengthening it to above the ankles, and if it is lengthened further, then it is in the Fire. If this violation of the system is accompanied by doing it out of arrogance, then he is the one who deserves the warning of losing the mercy of his Lord, and our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) turning to him with a look of mercy on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore, we should not take from the story of Abu Bakr the permissibility of lengthening without the intention of arrogance, because this contradicts the system of the previous hadith. And this is clear, if Allah wills.
Abu Ishaq: All right, my Shaykh, we observe that many of the brothers wear a short shirt and wear long trousers underneath, which sometimes reach below the ankles. Is this also included in the prohibition?

The Shaykh : “All roads lead to the mill.” It is not permissible either.
Abu Ishaq: All right, the phrase is…
Abu al-Harith: This is a saying among us in the Levant.

The Shaykh : “All roads lead to the mill,” meaning every path that leads to the forbidden is forbidden. And this is not permissible because the lower garment is not the intended object in itself; rather, the intended object is the garment, whether it is a lower garment, a shirt, a cloak, or the like. So it is not permissible for a Muslim to lengthen this garment to below the ankles. Yes.


The questioner : My teacher, there is a hadith: This hadith may indicate that whether one intends this to be out of arrogance or not, merely by letting his lower garment hang below the ankles, this becomes arrogance.

The Shaykh : This is correct. This is the principle. But the reality is that we cannot deny another reality, which is that some people may do it and the intention of arrogance does not cross their minds at all. But it is lengthening the lower garment, the intention of which is arrogance. So this hadith that you mention points to the principle: why lengthen the lower garment? It is out of arrogance. But this does not mean that we should assume that every person is accused of doing it out of arrogance, when he knows his own state and says, “I do not do it.” Rather, in this case, we draw his attention to the previous hadith, which is the methodology for this shirt or that garment, and it is from the hadith of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him).