outward appearance, whether he intended this or not, because intention is an inward matter that cannot be known, whereas imitation is outward and is therefore forbidden on account of its outward form.

Arrogance is forbidden in clothing and in other things.

His statement, “Arrogance is forbidden in clothing and in other things”: arrogance originally derives from horses, because horses evoke boasting, haughtiness, and superiority.

Arrogance is for a person to feel within himself a sense of superiority over others. This is forbidden, whether in clothing or in other things. Clothing includes a shirt, trousers, and a waist-wrapper; things other than clothing include a ring. Some people wear a ring with a very large stone, and at times one senses that he is displaying it arrogantly, as when he moves the finger bearing the ring with haughtiness. This is why the author said, “in clothing and in other things,” without restriction.

If someone were to ask: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever lets his garment drag out of arrogance, Allah will not look at him”; why, then, did he specify clothing?

The answer is that a ruling revolves with its effective cause. Mentioning clothing together with the description that constitutes the cause of the ruling is by way of example. Thus, what is fundamentally prohibited is arrogance itself, while the Prophet ﷺ mentioned clothing as an example of something in which arrogance may occur. For this reason, some scholars said that arrogance is not confined to letting one’s garment drag; rather, it can occur in every style of dress, to the extent that they held that widening one’s sleeves is a form of arrogance. (1)

The point is that the waist-wrapper or garment is mentioned in the hadith as an example.