and when he saw him praying bareheaded, he said: “Cover your head. Would you go out before people bareheaded?” He replied: “No.” He said: “Then Allah has more right that you adorn yourself for Him.” (1) This applies to those whose customary practice is not to uncover their heads, and who would not go out bareheaded before people.
Thus, adorning oneself is distinct from covering the awrah. We say: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “None of you should pray in a single garment with nothing of it over his shoulder.” (2) A man’s shoulder is not part of his awrah, by scholarly consensus; yet the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, commanded that it be covered in prayer, saying, “with nothing of it over his shoulder.” This shows that the ruling does not hinge upon covering the awrah.
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Jabir: “If it is tight, wrap it around your waist; and if it is loose...”
(1) Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah mentions it in Majmu al-Fatawa (22:117) without attributing it to any source, and I have found it with this wording nowhere else. However, Abd al-Razzaq in al-Musannaf (1:357), Ahmad (1:17), and al-Tahawi in Sharh Maani al-Athar (1:377) narrate from Nafi that Ibn Umar gave him two garments to wear when he was a young servant. Ibn Umar then entered the mosque and found him praying wrapped in a single garment. He said, “Do you not have two garments to wear?” I replied, “Yes.” He said, “If I sent you to the back of the house, would you wear both of them?” He replied, “Yes.” Ibn Umar said: “Allah has a greater right that you adorn yourself for Him ...” Ibn Kathir said, “Its chain of transmission is sound.” Musnad al-Faruq (1:149).
(2) Abd al-Razzaq in al-Musannaf (1:353) and al-Nasai, Book of Prayer, chapter: “A Man’s Prayer in a Single Garment” (3:71), no. 768, narrate this wording from Abu al-Zinad, from al-Araj, from Abu Hurayrah. Its chain of transmission is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Bukhari, Book of Prayer, chapter: “When One Prays in a Single Garment,” no. 359, and Muslim, Book of Prayer, chapter: “Prayer in a Single Garment and How It Is Worn,” no. 516, narrate it with the wording: “None of you should pray in a single garment with nothing of it covering his shoulders.”