They said: It is not valid to apply the unqualified texts to those that are qualified, because one of the conditions for linking an absolute wording to its qualified counterpart is that both the underlying cause and the legal ruling be identical. Here they are not. The cause differs with respect to the garment: allowing it to trail and drag is not the same as its merely hanging below the ankles. The ruling also differs: Allah’s refusal to look at the one who practices isbāl, to speak to him, and His assigning him a painful punishment is altogether different from the ruling that only the portion of the garment below the ankles will be in the Fire.
As for the other group, they held that these texts should be understood by connecting the unqualified wording to the qualified, and that the warning in all of them is one and the same: isbāl accompanied by pride and arrogance. In their view, isbāl begins with whatever of the garment falls below the ankles, whether long or short; all of it is forbidden by the texts with no distinction between one form and another.
Indeed, the legal-theory principle is to read the absolute in light of the qualified, and this principle runs consistently throughout the corpus of the Sharīʿah.
The Wise Lawgiver restricted the prohibition of isbāl to cases of arrogant self-conceit for a wisdom He intended; had that wisdom not existed, He would not have made the restriction.
The basic rule concerning clothing is permissibility, so nothing is unlawful except what Allah and His Messenger have declared unlawful. The Lawgiver’s purpose in forbidding this particular mode of dress was to censure the arrogance expressed through isbāl; otherwise, that style would have remained under the original ruling of permissibility.
When we survey clothing in all its various forms and styles, we find nothing prohibited unless there is a specific cause for the prohibition. Without such a cause, what meaning or benefit would the prohibition have? Hence, the purport of the ḥadiths is that whoever practices isbāl without intending pride or self-conceit is not included in the threat.
This is confirmed by the report in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (3665) in which the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said: “Whoever drags his garment, Allah will not look at him on the Day of Resurrection.” Abu Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Messenger of Allah, my waist-wrap sometimes slips unless I keep a constant check on it.” The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him) replied, “You are …”