Question: What is the Islamic ruling about lowering the pants beneath the ankles?
Answered by: Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Answer:
In the Name of Allāh ﷻ, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. All praise is due to Allāh, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allāh ﷻ will not look at the one who lowers his garment out of pride.”1 He ﷺ also said, “Whatever is below the ankles from the izār (lower garment) is in the fire.”2
Reports of this nature are found in all the major ḥadīth collections. As a result, there is complete consensus among the scholars that whoever lowers his garment out of pride has committed a major sin.
In every society, people invent ways to show off their wealth. In our times, designer clothes are an example. The prohibition of lowering garments out of pride has to do with how people showed off their wealth in the Prophet ﷺ’s time. In that era, cloth was scarce, and the environment was dirty and dusty. Normal people would wear their clothes above their ankles out of common sense to prevent their clothes from getting dirty, especially because they might not have other clothes. In fact, the Prophet ﷺ and the Ṣaḥābah had a maximum of around two or three pairs of clothes!
On the other hand, wealthy and prideful people would let their clothes hang all the way below their ankles as a way of sticking out from the crowd and showing off that they had lots of wealth and clothes and did not need to worry about getting their clothes dirty. This is why Islām prohibited this action when done out of pride. Allāh ﷻ says, “Indeed, Allāh ﷻ does not like those who are arrogant and boastful” [Sūrah Luqmān, Āyah 18].
However, within a century of the Prophet ﷺ, wealth increased among the Muslims. Clothes and other luxuries were no longer considered luxuries. Therefore, people did not worry as much about dirtying their clothes and started wearing clothes below the ankles simply because they could. It was no longer a way of showing off wealth.
As a result, within the earliest generations, scholars stated that these aḥādīth apply to a society where lowering garments is a sign of pride. Even though some aḥādīth do not mention the condition of pride for the prohibition, many clearly do. This reality led to a near consensus among almost all scholars that the prohibition does not apply when people do it out of culture, due to habit, or because of any reason other than pride.
Evidence for this is the report of Abū Bakr (rḍa) when he heard about the prohibition. He said to the Prophet ﷺ, “O Messenger of Allāh ﷺ, one side of my izār (lower cloth) hangs low if I do not take care of it.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “You are not from those who do it out of pride.”3
Note how the Prophet ﷺ did not say “You do it accidentally.” Instead, he ﷺ excused him by saying he does not do it out of pride. As a result, in a society where hanging the garments is not used to show off at all and has nothing to do with pride, the prohibition does not apply.
There is also evidence from the actions of the Ṣaḥābah. The companion ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd (rḍa) had shins that were thin and curved. When Ibn Masʿūd was living in Kufa after the wealth of Muslims had increased, his students saw him wearing low garments that covered his ankles. They asked him why he lowered them despite narrating a report about its prohibition. He responded, “I am a man that has thin shins.”4 This shows that he wished to cover his shins to prevent people from mocking him about their appearance. If lowering the garments were always prohibited according to Ibn Masʿūd, his excuse would not be a valid excuse: prohibited matters do not become Ḥalāl due to fear of mockery.
A number of reports from the early generations indicates this. In one, Imām Abū Ḥanīfah (rḥ)’s students saw him wearing low garments. They asked him, “Aren’t we prohibited from doing that?” He responded, “That is only for those who do it out of pride, and we are not from among them.”5 In another, Ayyūb as-Sikhtiyānī (a major tābiʿī scholar who died in 130AH) was asked why he lowered his garment despite narrating reports to the contrary. He responded, “In the past, showing off was to lower the garments (below the ankles). In our times, showing off is to raise the garment (above the ankles).”6 He meant that some people used raising the garment as a way of showing off or pretending they were more pious than others. (Of course it should be emphasized that one should not doubt the sincerity of people who follow this hadith out of love for the Sunnah.)
All four schools of thought hold the position that it is only prohibited or sinful to lower the garment below the ankles for those who do it out of pride.7 This was also the view of Ibn Taymiyyah.8 So, in this society and culture where lowering the garments is not used for showing off, the prohibition does not apply.
There is an alternate opinion held by some scholars that lowering the garments is sinful whether it is done out of pride or not,9 but this view is held by a very small minority. We respect those who follow the opinion of prohibition, but no one should claim it is the only interpretation or even the dominant interpretation. That view is also not practical for most people to apply.
In conclusion, lowering garments below the ankles out of pride, especially in a society that uses low garments as a way of showing off, is prohibited by the consensus of the scholars. However, lowering pants below the ankles in modern society is not sinful or Ḥarām because it is not considered a way of showing off. This is the view of the vast majority of scholars.
And Allāh ﷻ knows best.
Disclaimer: This fatwa is the personal opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of every member of the Fiqh Council.
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5783 – Book of Dress. https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5783 ↩︎
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5787 – Book of Dress. https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5787 ↩︎
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5784 – Book of Dress. https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5784 ↩︎
- Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah 5/166. https://app.turath.io/book/9944?page=28013 ↩︎
- Ādāb Al-Sharʿiyyah 3/521. https://app.turath.io/book/21582?page=1437 ↩︎
- Jāmiʿ Maʿmar Ibn Rāshid 11/84. https://app.turath.io/book/5610?page=716 ↩︎
- Fatāwā Hindiyyah for the Ḥanafīs (https://app.turath.io/book/21640?page=2568), al-Risālah p. 157 by Ibn Abi Zaid for the Mālikīs (https://app.turath.io/book/11373?page=185), Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim by al-Nawawī for the Shāfiʿīs (https://app.turath.io/book/1711?page=3099), al-Mughnī 1/418 by Ibn Qudāmah for the Ḥanbalīs (https://app.turath.io/book/8463?page=416) ↩︎
- Sharḥ ʿUmdat al-Fiqh p. 361. https://app.turath.io/book/11251?page=334 ↩︎
- This view is held by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Dhahabī, and many modern scholars such as Ibn ʿUthaymīn and Ibn Bāz. ↩︎