Men: The Ruling Regarding Praying in Pants - Shaykh Albani

Imaam Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaanee
Translation by Maaz Qureshi

The Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) prohibited the man who was praying in saraaweel without a waist-wrap over them.[1]

[1]: Shaykh al-Albaanee (d.1420H) was asked about praying in pants, so he replied,

“It is not permissible of course, it is either makrooh (disliked) or haraam (unlawful). “[2]

[2]: Shaykh al-Albaanee was asked if pants constitute resemblance of the disbelievers and what is the ruling upon praying in pants, so he answered,

“There is no doubt that they are a resemblance of the disbelievers. However, these pants that you are considering have another problem. Since, even if they were not a resemblance of the disbelievers, there is another reason for their prohibition, though resemblance of the disbelievers is enough of a prohibition due to the statement of the Prophet (‘alayhis-salaam) in the well-known hadeeth, “Whosoever resembles a people, then he is from them.”[3]

And he said to a man he saw wearing the clothes of the disbelievers,

“These is from the clothes of the disbelievers, so do not wear them. “[4]

Pants have another problem that is obligatory upon our brothers who adhere to the Sharee’ah of our Lord the Blessed and Exalted and the Sunnah of our Prophet (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), it is obligatory upon them to take note of the fact that there is a very evil problem with pants. That problem is that pants display the ‘awrah and they show much of that which is considered shameful. Whenever a Muslim stands to pray with pants and he performs rukoo ‘and he performs sajdah, then they cup his’ awrah. So it is not permissible for the Muslim to wear pants, and especially not when he wants to stand in front of Allaah the Blessed and Exalted. “[5]

[3]: Shaykh al-Albaanee said, “And the pants (bantaloon) have two problems:

The First Problem: Wearing them is imitation of the disbelievers. And the Muslims used to wear the baggy saraaweel, which some people still wear today in Syria and Lebanon. So the Muslims did not know about the pants up until they were colonized. Then, when the colonialists had retreated, they left behind their evil effects, which the Muslims adopted due to their desires and their ignorance.

The Second Problem: The pants cup the ‘awrah. And the ‘awrah of the man is from his knees to his navel. And it is obligatory upon the one who is praying to be far removed from whatever constitutes disobedience to Allaah whilst he is performing prostration to Him. So you will see the shape of his buttocks. Rather, you will even see the shape of what is between them!!

So how can this person pray (with such an appearance) whilst he is standing in front of the Lord of the worlds?

And from the amazing affairs is that many of the Muslim youth object to the tight clothing for the women, because such clothes show their bodies, but this youth has forgotten about himself. So he has fallen into that which he opposes. And there is no difference between the woman who wears tight clothes which show the shape of her body and between the youth who wears pants, because they also show his buttocks. So the buttocks of the man and the buttocks of the woman are both ‘awrah. Both of them are the same. So it is obligatory upon the youth to pay attention to this due to this problem, which has become prevalent amongst them, except for the one whom Allaah wills. And how few they are! “[6]

Footnotes:
[1] Hasan: Related byAboo Daawood (no. 541) and at-Tahaawee in Sharh Ma’aaniyyil-Aathaar (1/382). It was authenticated by al-Albaanee in Saheehul-Jaami ‘(no. 6830).
[2] Refer to the taped series, Silsilatul-Hudaa wan-Noor (tape no. 26).
[3] Saheeh: Related by Aboo Daawood (no. 4091) and Ahmad in his Musnad (2/50). It was authenticated by al- Albaanee in al-Irwaa’ul-Ghaleel (no. 1269).
[4] Related by Muslim (no. 3872), an-Nisaa’ee (no. 5221) and Ahmad in his Musnad (no. 6677).
[5] Refer to the taped series, Silsilatul-Hudaa wan-Noor (tape no. 229).
[6] Refer to al-Qawlul-Mubeen fee Akhtaa’il-Musalleen (p. 20-21) of Mashhoor Hasan Salmaan.

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