The Dress

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that ’Amir al-Mu’minin sent ‘Abd Allah ibn al-‘Abbas to ibn al-Kawwa’ and his people. He was wearing a shirt of fine fabric and a gown. They looked at him and said, ‘O ibn al- ‘Abbas, you are the better among us in our belief and you wear this kind of clothes.’ He replied, ‘This is the first thing about which I disagree with you. “Who has made it unlawful to maintain beauty and to eat the pure foods which Allah has created for His servants?” (7:32) and He also has said, “dress well when attending the mosques.” (7:31)’”

“I once visited abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), and I was wearing a Jubbah of silk and al-Taylisan (pallium) of silk. He (the Imam) looked at me and I asked saying, ‘I pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause, I am wearing a Taylisan of silk and a Jubbah of silk, what do you say about them?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Silk is not unlawful.’ I then said, ‘Its warp is abrisam (silk from silk worm as opposed to that from certain plant fibers or synthetic). He (the Imam) said, ‘Abrisam is not unlawful because when al-Husayn (a.s.), was murdered, he was wearing abrisam and jubbah of silk.’ He (the Imam) then said, ‘Abd Allah ibn al-‘ Abbas was sent to al-Khawarij by ’Amir al-Mu’minin and he stood before them wearing the best of his dresses with the best perfumes and with the best stumper. They said, ‘O ibn al- ‘Abbas you are the best of people to us but you have come wearing the dress of the tyrants and riding the stumper of the tyrants.’ He read to them this verse, ‘Say, who has made unlawful the beauties that Allah has brought out for His servants and the best sustenance.’ So dress up and beautify; Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty but it must be of the lawful ones.’”

’Amir al-Mu’minin (as) has said, "Clean clothes remove worry and sorrow, and they are purifying for prayer."

“Once I was with abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), when a man said, ‘I pray to Allah to keep you well, you have mentioned that Ali ibn abu Talib wore very rough-textured clothes. He wore a shirt valued at four dirham and similar items and we see you wear fine clothes.’ Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), said to him, ‘Ali ibn abu Talib wore that kind of clothes in a time when it was not disliked. Were he to wear such clothes today he would have been defamed. The best dress in every period of time is what the people of that time use, however, when our al-Qa’im will rise, he will wear the kind of dress Ali (a.s.), wore and follow his way of life.’”