The Book of Clothing

Chapter: The recommendation to wear white garments, the permissibility of red, green, yellow, and black garments, and of clothing made from cotton, linen, animal hair, wool, and the like—everything except silk.

Allah the Exalted says: “O children of Adam, We have bestowed upon you clothing to cover your nakedness and as an adornment; but the garment of taqwā (piety)—that is best.” (Al-A‘raf 7:26)

Explanation

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—begins with “The Book of Clothing,” and this ordering is most fitting, for food and drink serve as a covering for the inner self, while garments cover the outer body. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: “You shall neither go hungry therein nor be naked, and you shall neither thirst therein nor suffer the heat of the sun” (Taha 20:118–119). He first says, “that you shall not go hungry therein nor be naked,” because hunger is an inner bareness: an empty stomach is, in a sense, unclothed. “Nor be naked” speaks of the external covering. “And that you shall not thirst therein” refers to heat within, while “nor suffer the heat of the sun” refers to heat that strikes from without.

For this reason some people find the wording puzzling and ask: Why did it not say, “that you shall neither go hungry therein nor thirst, and that you shall neither be naked therein nor suffer the heat of the sun”? Whoever perceives the nuance we have just pointed out will appreciate the Quran’s eloquence. “That you shall not go hungry therein”—this