and the like. The people of the Hijaz do not live in a cold land, so they customarily wore lower and upper wraps, while trousers were uncommon among them. Indeed, some of them never wore trousers at all, including Uthmān ibn Affān and others. By contrast, lower and upper wraps alone would not suffice for people in cold countries; they also need tunics, leather socks, fur garments and trousers.
For this reason, the jurists said that it is recommended to wear a lower wrap with an upper wrap, because it covers the thighs, and to wear trousers with a tunic, because this provides better coverage. With a tunic, the contours of the body do not show: a tunic worn over trousers conceals them, whereas an upper wrap worn over trousers does not.
Some people recommend wearing an upper wrap over trousers in imitation of them. Others do not recommend it, because it serves no useful purpose and because their established custom was to wear it with a lower wrap. Someone accustomed to wearing an upper wrap secures it on his body by folding over one of its ends. But when someone unaccustomed to wearing it performs Hajj, and his upper wrap is small, it will stay in place only if he knots it. Such people’s need to knot it is like the need of someone who cannot find sandals to wear leather socks instead.
The need to cover the body may be greater than the need to cover the feet. Many people walk barefoot, whereas exposing the body to heat, cold, wind and sun harms most people. Moreover, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed those praying to cover that part of the body