What is the ruling on the report that the early Muslims ordered the People of the Book to expose their buttocks and legs?
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The questioner : It is reported that the early Muslims ordered the People of the Book to expose their buttocks and legs.
The Shaykh : What did they do?
The questioner : They ordered the People of the Book to expose their buttocks and legs.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : What can be derived from this hadith, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : It is permissible for the Caliph to order the Christians to expose their buttocks and legs in the Muslim state.
The Shaykh : This is obligatory because, first, the Christians do not have the hijab that exists among Muslims.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Second, just as it is not permissible for Muslims to imitate the disbelievers, nor for Muslim women to imitate the disbelieving women,
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : likewise, it is not permissible for disbelievers to imitate Muslims, nor for disbelieving women to imitate Muslim women. Therefore, these conditions were imposed by the Muslim Caliphs in the past as a mandatory requirement to distinguish the Muslim from the disbeliever, because Islam, just as it came to reform the inner selves, also came to reform the outward appearances.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So it should not be said that the criterion is what is in the heart. No, the criterion is what is in the heart and what is in the body, because the matter is as he (peace be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 52. Therefore, this condition was established.
The Shaykh : What did they do?
The questioner : They ordered the People of the Book to expose their buttocks and legs.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : What can be derived from this hadith, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : It is permissible for the Caliph to order the Christians to expose their buttocks and legs in the Muslim state.
The Shaykh : This is obligatory because, first, the Christians do not have the hijab that exists among Muslims.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Second, just as it is not permissible for Muslims to imitate the disbelievers, nor for Muslim women to imitate the disbelieving women,
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : likewise, it is not permissible for disbelievers to imitate Muslims, nor for disbelieving women to imitate Muslim women. Therefore, these conditions were imposed by the Muslim Caliphs in the past as a mandatory requirement to distinguish the Muslim from the disbeliever, because Islam, just as it came to reform the inner selves, also came to reform the outward appearances.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So it should not be said that the criterion is what is in the heart. No, the criterion is what is in the heart and what is in the body, because the matter is as he (peace be upon him) said:
There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart.
ألا وإن في القلب مضغة ؛ إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله ، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله ؛ ألا وهي القلب
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.