is lawfully permissible to wear in ihram, if it contains stitching, then it is prohibited. Thus, if a person is wearing a patched cloak, or a cloak formed by joining two pieces together, is it considered sewn or not?

The answer is that, linguistically, it is sewn, since one part has been stitched to another. Yet this is not forbidden; rather, it is permissible.

The Prophetic wording is therefore preferable to this expression, for it is an enumeration, not a definition, and it gives no misleading impression. Let us then return to explaining the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him:

He said, “He should not wear a shirt.” A shirt is a garment sewn to the shape of the body and provided with sleeves, like the clothes we are wearing now. A pilgrim in ihram should not wear such a garment, because if he did, there would be no outward distinguishing feature of the rite, and people would differ in what they wore: one would wear one thing and another something else. This is unlike the case when they are united in dress.

He said, “Nor sarāwīl (trousers).” The word sarāwīl is singular, not plural; its plural is sarāwīlāt.

It has also been said that it is a collective noun, whose singular is sirwāl. However, in eloquent Arabic, sarāwīl is singular.

Ibn Mālik said in the Alfiyyah:

“Sarāwīl resembles this plural form”—that is, the form of the ultimate plural—
“And this resemblance necessitates complete indeclinability.” (1)