Impermissibility of wearing pants

Question #304:

Is it permissible to wear pants, like the ones the kuffār wear, while in Ṣalāt? Because a brother is using as a proof that the ṣaḥābah wore Arab pants. However when he is asked for a dalīl (evidence) he does not have any.

Answer :

The wearing of what is known to the scholars of today as bintāl (بنطال), which can be translated as pants or more specifically as jeans, being tight with a zip in its description thus describing ones figure and ʿawrah (private parts) to a certain degree, this type of garment is ḥarām for the Muslim to wear in the ṣalāh and outside of the ṣalāh, because it is from those garments which is specific to the kuffār and its unlawful for the Muslim to imitate them, due to the saying of the Prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam,

“Whoever imitates a people, he is of them!” Reported by Aḥmed with an isnād which is Ḥasan, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar raḍiyAllāhu ʿanhumā

Shaykh al-Albānī -may Allāh have mercy upon him- was asked:

Q: Whats the rulling of wearing of Bintāl?

He replied:

The wearing of bintāl has two problems; the first; its tight upon the ʿawrah, especially upon ones praying, and its not permissible for the man to wear, let alone the women.

Secondly, it is from the garments of the kuffār and its has been authenticated upon the Prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam that he said “…… Whoever imitates a people he is of them”, and it has come in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, that a man came to the Prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam and gave him salāms, and the Prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam said to him: “This is from the garments of the Kuffār so do not wear it”.  Fatāwā al-Imārāt 3

Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān -may Allāh preserve him was asked:

Q: Is it permissible wear Bintāl in ṣalāh?

He answered:

The garments which describe one’s structure and limbs is not permissible to wear for men and women. Muntaqā min Fatāwā (3/308-309).

Shaykh ʿAbdul-Muḥsin al-ʿAbbād was asked the same question:

He replied:

It is similar to the one who wears silk, his ṣalāh is correct and he is a sinner for wearing silk. Recorded by some students who visited the Shaykh in person.

As for the one who says; the Ṣaḥābah raḍiyAllāhu ʿanhum wore Arab pants then we put forth these two questions:

1. What is the description of that which you refer to as Arab pants, is it similar to kuffār pants (bintāl) which describes ones ʿawrah?! Or is something different.
2. Did the Ṣaḥābah raḍiyAllāhu ʿanhum wear what you refer to as Arab pants in the ṣalāh without wearing anything on top or did they wear it underneath as an extra covering for them?

That which is apparent is that the brother is referring to what is known as (سراويل / sarāwīl). Its description is that it covers from the belly button to the knees or even below, and its very lose fitting which does not describe ones ʿawrah, nor does it have a zip or a waist belt area like those of the kuffār. These are some clear distinctions between the bintāl which are specific to the kuffār and the Sirwāl which is from the clothing of the Muslims.

The wearing of Sirwāl by itself without anything on top is regarded as makrūh (disliked) by the people of knowledge, as is the madh-hab of Imām Mālik, he said; “I dislike the wearing of Sirwāl in the ṣalāh)”. An-Nawādir (1/201)

Abū Ḥanīfah said; “The clothing which is disliked (in ṣalāh) is Sirwāl alone)”. Badāi’ asanāi’ (1/151)

Imām ash-Shāfiʿī said; “The izār (robe) covers better and is more beloved to me”. al-Umm (1/181)

And we don’t know of anyone from the Ṣaḥābah who wore sarāwīl by itself without any other garment on top! Not in ṣalāh nor outside of the ṣalāh.

Additional Benefits:

• The one performing Ḥajj can wear Sirwāl if he cant find an izār (robe) as reported by al-Bukhārī (1841), and Muslim (1178), however Shaykhul-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah mentions:

If he is able to make the Sirwāl like an izār by opening it up, its not permissible for him to wear it in the form of the Sirwāl. Sharḥ ʿUmdah, The Book of Ḥajj

Yet this has not been the case on reports of any of the Ṣaḥābah nor the tābiʿīn of wearing Sirwāl by itself.

• It has been reported by Ibn Mājah on the authority of Suwayd bin Qays that the Prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam bought a Sirwāl. Authenticated by al-Albānī and al-Wādiʿī rahimahumAllaah

Ibn al-Qayyim mentions in Zād al-Mʾād that the prophet Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam bought Sirwāl but it has not been affirmed whether he wore it or not, because the fact that he bought it does not necessitate that he wore it, perhaps it was a gift for someone else, and in the case that he Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam wore it, then he would have worn it under his garment as an extra covering Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam.

Allāh ʿAzza wa Jalla knows best.

والحمد لله رب العلمين

Answered by: Abū Hārūn Muḥammad ʿAbdin-Nūr