THINK ABOUT THIS

 *THINK ABOUT THIS...*

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: "There are three whom Allah will not look at or praise on the Day of Judgement and theirs will be a painful punishment: the one who wears his garment below his ankles, the one who reminds others of his favours, and the one who sells his product by means of making false oaths" (reported by Muslim, no. 106)

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Isbaal (wearing one’s garment below the ankles) may apply to the izaar (lower garment), the shirt or the turban. Whoever allows any part of these to trail on the ground out of arrogance, Allah will not look at him on the Day of Judgement." (reported by Abu Dawud, no. 4085, and al-Nisaa’i, no. 5334, with a saheeh isnaad).

All of the ahaadeeth quoted above speak against isbaal, whether or not the intention is to show off; but if a person does this deliberately out of arrogance, there is no doubt that his sin is greater. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Allah will not look at the one who trails his izaar on the ground out of pride." (al-Bukhaari, no. 5788)

No one is able to be completely free of pride and arrogance, even if he claims that this is so. Such a claim is unacceptable, because by saying it, he is praising himself. Only in the case of those whom the wahy (revelation) testified that they were free of pride do we believe that this is the case. For example, there is a hadeeth which states that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever trails his garment on the ground out of pride, Allaah will not look at him on the Day of Resurrection." Abu Bakr said to him, "O Messenger of Allah, my izaar slips down if I do not pay attention to it." He said: "You are not one of those who do it out of pride." (Reported by al-Bukhaari, no. 5784)

Ibn ‘Umar said: "I passed by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and my izaar had slipped down. He said, ‘O ‘Abdullaah, pull up your izaar!’ so I pulled it up. He said, ‘More!’ so I pulled it up more, and always made sure it was pulled up properly after that."

Some people asked, "To where did you pull it up?" He said, "To mid-calf length." (Reported by Muslim, no. 2086; al-Dhahabi, Kitaab al-Kabaa’ir, 131-132)

The issue of isbaal applies to women just as much as it applies to men. This is indicated by the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever trails his garment on the ground out of pride, Allaah will not look at him.’ Umm Salamah said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what should women do with their hems?’ He said, ‘Let them go down a handspan.’ She asked, ‘What if their feet show?’ He said, ‘Let them lengthen it by a cubit, but no more.’" (al-Nisaa'i, Kitaab al-zeenah, Baab dhuyool al-nisaa’).

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The punishment for showing off may come to pass in this world, not in the Hereafter. Abu Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whilst a man was walking arrogantly admiring himself and his clothes, Allah caused the earth to swallow him and he is suffering in it until the Day of Resurrection." (Reported by Muslim, no. 2088).