Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
Is it obligatory to keep one’s garment above one’s ankles?
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
Outward Fiqh
Although major scholars from various schools have held that someone who allows his lower garment to hang below his ankles is sinful, the position of the Shafii school is that to do so is disliked (makruh) and not unlawful (haram).
There are two kinds of hadiths that have been related from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) on the topic of letting one’s garment hang below one’s ankles.
The first type of hadiths are general (amm) in their wording, applying to all people without exception. An example of such a hadith is what has been related via Abu Dharr (Allah be pleased with him), who said,
“The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, There are three types of people who Allah will not speak to on the Day of Judgment, nor will He look at them, nor will he purify them, and they shall have a painful punishment.’ The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said this three times. Abu Dharr then said, They have failed and lost. Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, The one who hangs [his garment], the one who reminds [others of his favors], and the one who sells his goods by swearing a false oath.” (Muslim)
The second type of hadiths are specific (khass) in their wording, applying to only those people who hang their garments out of pride. An example of such a hadith is what has been related via Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him), who said,
“The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, Allah will not look at the one who drags his garment out of pride.'” (Muslim)
Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) commented on this hadith, saying,
“We have previously mentioned that it is not permissible to let one’s garment hang below one’s ankles if it is done out of pride. If it is not done out of pride, then it is disliked. The outward purport of the hadiths that qualify it with dragging out of pride indicates that it is only unlawful if done out of pride. Al-Shafii has explicitly stated that the two cases [i.e., dragging with and without pride] are different, just as we have mentioned. The scholars concur that it is permissible for women to let their garment hang.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 8.287-288)
In other words, Imam Nawawi understood that the generality of the former hadiths is specified by the latter hadiths (the mechanics of specification (takhsis) are discussed in books of usul al-fiqh), so that the unlawfulness only applies to cases when one’s garment is allowed to hang below one’s ankles out of pride. Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) mentions elsewhere that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) allowed our master Abu Bakr (Allah be pleased with him) to let his lower garment hang, saying, “You are not of those [who do it out of pride].” (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 2.298)
Imam Nawawi’s conclusions are confirmed by the later books of the school. Shaykh Abdullah Ba Fadl says in al-Muqaddimah al-Hadramiyyah:
“It is disliked (makruh) to let one’s garment hang below the ankles, and it is forbidden (haram) to do so out of pride.” (Bushra’l-Karim, 2.16)
Inward Fiqh
Imam Dhahabi (Allah be pleased with him) said,
“The wickedest arrogance is that of someone who exalts himself over people because of his learning and gloats to himself about his superiority. The knowledge of such a person is of absolutely no benefit to him. Whoever learns sacred knowledge for the sake of the next world is unsettled by his learning, his heart is humbled and his ego lowered. Such a person lies in wait for his selfishness and never gives it free rein. He constantly takes his ego to task and corrects it. Were he to neglect it, it would diverge from the right path and destroy him. The person who seeks knowledge to take pride in it or to gain a position of leadership, looking disdainfully at other Muslims, thinking them fools and making light of themall this is the most enormous arrogance, and “no one with the slightest particle of arrogance in his heart will enter paradise.”” (Reliance, p15.3)
Pride and arrogance are among the major sins. Perhaps the best treatment of the definitions, signs, causes, and cures of these sins is the “Book comprising the Censure of Pride and Vanity,” (kitab dhamm al-kibr wa’l-ujb), in the third quarter of the Ihya’ of the Proof of Islam, Imam al-Ghazali (Allah be pleased with him). Arabic speakers should read it and non-Arabic speakers should try to find an Arabic speaker to read it to them. I have heard one of the scholars mention that one of the causes of being abandoned by Allah (khidhlan) is not constantly poring over the Ihya’.
And Allah knows best.
Hamza.