So the Exalted One says: “And the grazing livestock—He created them for you; in them there is warmth and many benefits, and from them you eat” (16:5). Here He points to what gives you warmth and wards off the cold, for cold can destroy people, whereas heat merely troubles them. For that reason some of the Arabs would say, “Cold brings misery, while heat is only a nuisance.” Because of this, the later verse does not mention protection from cold; that had already been stated at the beginning of the sûrah. In the middle of the sûrah He speaks of what completes His favor, whereas at its opening He listed the foundational blessings—hence His words: “Thus does He perfect His favor upon you, so that you may submit” (16:81).

The point, then, is that the purpose of clothing is akin to the purpose of dwellings. Women are commanded to wear that which covers and conceals them; accordingly, whenever men’s and women’s attire differs in a way that more fully realizes concealment and seclusion, that form of dress belongs to women, and its opposite to men.

At bottom you must understand that the Lawgiver has two aims: first, to distinguish between men and women; second, to ensure the seclusion of women. If His only aim were mere differentiation, that could be achieved by any means of divergence—yet we have already shown that such a view is unsound. More striking still is the case of the attire prescribed for the People of the Covenant: its purpose is to make the difference between Muslim and non-Muslim visible, so that the outward rulings appropriate to each may be applied. Plainly, that distinction could be achieved by any clothing on which the two communities agree. Nevertheless, the Law considered something more specific than simple differentiation. Because white garments are superior to others—as the Prophet ﷺ said, “Hold fast to white; let your living wear it and shroud your dead in it”—it was not the sunnah to assign white clothes to the dhimmîs and dyed garments to the Muslims.