The Ruling on Letting Garments Hang Below the Ankles Without Arrogance

Question:
The first letter in this episode is from our brother Ahmad Mahmoud al-Wakil from Dammam. Our brother is discussing an issue you have previously graciously answered. He says, Your Eminence:
Your Eminence stated that the one who lets his garment hang below the ankles is not required to have the intention of arrogance, and that whoever conditions the prohibition of letting garments hang on arrogance has erred in the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is established that the punishment for the one who lets his garment hang without the intention of arrogance is the same as the punishment for the one who does so with the intention of arrogance; because the punishment in the aforementioned hadith is that Allah will not look at him on the Day of Resurrection. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . The Companions said: "They have failed and lost." Who are they? He said: . And he did not condition letting garments hang on arrogance. So how can the punishment for letting garments hang without arrogance be the same as the punishment for doing so with arrogance in the first hadith?
And what indicates this is also when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So Abu Bakr said: "O Messenger of Allah! My garment hangs loose unless I hold it up." So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: , narrated by al-Bukhari. Here, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) negated the punishment for Abu Bakr because he does not do it out of arrogance. So what do you say, Your Eminence? May Allah reward you and have mercy on us and you. He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
The hadiths mentioned from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) are authentic, and they all indicate the prohibition of letting garments hang below the ankles. And if it is done out of arrogance, Allah will not look at its owner on the Day of Resurrection. Other hadiths came without this condition, such as the hadith I mentioned, which is the hadith of Abu Dharr from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: .
And likewise what al-Bukhari narrated in the Sahih from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: , and it was not conditioned on arrogance. And the other hadith is the hadith of Ibn Umar: . There is no contradiction between the hadiths. And likewise the story of Abu Bakr, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: .
The way to reconcile this is: the one who drags his garment out of arrogance has the explicit and severe warning, and the one who lets his garments hang, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also issued a warning for him.
And the secret in that, and Allah knows best, is: that the majority of those who let their garments hang intend arrogance and pride over people. And this intention is in the heart, and no one knows it except Allah . And the one who lets his garment hang may explicitly state what indicates his intention of arrogance and pride. And if he does not state it explicitly, knowledge of that belongs to Allah . So he is displaying the appearance of those who have arrogance, so it is obligatory to prevent him from that and leave his heart to Allah .
So the Muslims must prevent what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prevented, which is letting garments hang. And if he says: "I did not intend arrogance," then his case is left to Allah, but he displayed the appearance of those who have arrogance and contradicted the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in what he prohibited. So it is obligatory to prevent him, and the news covers him in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , due to the lack of a condition. And the fact that it is conditioned in some narrations does not indicate a condition in the other narrations; because conditioning some instances of a general statement does not condition all its instances. Rather, the one with the condition is more severe in punishment and more severe in retribution if it is out of arrogance. And if he drags it without arrogance, the prevention is general, the punishment is general, and the warning is general, but it is not necessary that they be equal in punishment.
So whoever intends arrogance, his punishment will be more severe. And whoever did not intend that, but rather was negligent and dragged his garment and did not care, then the hadiths cover him, and it is not necessary that his punishment be like the punishment of that one. The punishment may be lighter because he did not intend arrogance, but the prevention is general for everyone and the prohibition is general for everyone.
As for the Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) , he does not intentionally drag his garment, but rather the garment slips off him and hangs loose without intention, so he does not fall under this warning. Unlike the one who intentionally lets his garments hang... his trousers... his overcoat... his lower garment. Then this warning covers him because he intentionally commits the falsehood. As for the one whose garment slips off him and hangs loose on him at times without intention, but due to a defect in how the garment was raised or for other reasons that caused the defect until his garment slipped, then this news does not cover him because he did not intend it and did not do it intentionally, but rather it happened to him without intention. Like a garment that was tucked up and tied but a defect occurred in it and it hung loose, or a tear in it caused the looseness, or for other reasons.
And with this it becomes clear that letting garments hang is prohibited and forbidden due to the generality of the hadiths. As for the punishment, it varies and it is not necessary that it be equal, for the one who intends arrogance is not like the one who did not intend it. This is a known matter, but everyone is prohibited from doing so, and they must not let their garments, overcoats, or trousers hang. Rather, they must raise them so that they are not below the ankles; due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is a fundamental principle that must be adhered to.
And it is not permissible to say: that the implication of the hadith of Ibn Umar is that it permits us what is other than that. This is not permissible. Rather, it is obligatory to block the door and protect the Muslims from this corruption and this extravagance, and to take the generality from the authentic hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so that perhaps the Muslim will be deterred from this crime and stay away from this dangerous path that leads to the Fire. There is no power and no strength except with Allah. We ask Allah for success and guidance for everyone. Yes.

The presenter: O Allah, amen.