The Shaykh’s remarks on children’s clothing.

The Shaykh : The truth is that there is a very ugly phenomenon among the young people that we see in the mosques, especially on Fridays. I do not want to speak about the embroidered, decorated shirts that are made of every color, because although we do not approve of them in general, we do not dwell on them, as they are among the permissible matters. But I want to speak about the shirts with pictures. Every day the disbelievers invade us in our own homes; every day they send us a new model and a new fashion. Recently, a young man was preoccupied in front of me while praying. There was no picture on his shirt, but these disbelievers, these wretches, seem to be plotting against us even in the clothes they send us. There were only blue pens, blue pens with such shapes and colors. Then, when you look closely, you see what a mixture it is. They generalize these pen shapes, and then there is a cross. They want to deceive people with a quick glance; at first glance, there is nothing, but when you examine it, you see crosses. Indeed, you are praying and the cross is in front of you. Why? Because this young man is praying in front of you, between the hands of Allah. So I wanted to speak about the shirts with large pictures on the chest, on the back, on the sides, and so on. Of course, those responsible for this, as we said, are their fathers, who are the ones paying the money to buy these clothes. If it is not the fathers and mothers who buy these clothes directly, I believe that in many cases they are the ones who go down with the children and buy these shirts for them. Then they show the shirt to the child: "Do you like it?" "No, I don't like this one." "This one?" "This one?" They look for a picture that captures his mind and congratulate him on it. So you must be careful, and you must teach your children and sons to wear simple clothes, simple, meaning one color. It is fine if it is pink, red, or spotted, and so on, but it should not be decorated with the kind of decoration that distracts a person in his prayer. Furthermore, it is not permissible for these shirts to be printed with images that are forbidden in Islam, especially if the image depicts a woman, a woman displaying her adornment, a dancing girl, or the like. These are the tastes of the disbelievers whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic commanded us in the Noble Qur'an to fight, and yet here we are, buying their goods and imitating their clothes. This is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers.